What's Your Excuse?

Deuteronomy 2:8-12

Have you ever seen someone who could take very little and do a lot with it? Perhaps it was finances. Maybe it was talent. Regardless, they did not have what many other around them did, and yet they excelled. Others times you see people who seem to have everything available, and yet they don't live up to expectations. Why is this? There are probably a lot of answers to that question, but today we will consider an example from the Bible. We will look at nations that were not as blessed who did great things. Then we will consider a nation who had everything available to them, but they blew a great opportunity.

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“And when we passed beyond our brethren, the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir, away from the road of the plain, away from Elath and Ezion Geber, we turned and passed by way of the Wilderness of Moab. Then the LORD said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.’ ”

 (The Emim had dwelt there in times past, a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. They were also regarded as giants, like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim. The Horites formerly dwelt in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their place, just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the LORD gave them.)

Deuteronomy 2:8-12

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Ok, stay with me on this. There are a lot of strange names here, but there is also a message we need to understand. First, we need to understand who Esau is. Esau was the brother of Jacob, whom God changed his name to Israel. Esau sold his birthright for a pot of stew to Jacob. In other words, he did not value being the firstborn in the family. Then, Jacob stole his blessing from their father. In his anger, he planned to kill Jacob. He also married pagan women who caused strife in the family. So, when it came time for possessions, God promised the land of Israel to Jacob's descendants. Esau moved east to what would become Edom. That is a lot of history distilled down to a few words.

Jacob's family (Israel) had been in slavery for 400 years in Egypt. Now, they were brought out, and God told them to go in and conquer the land He had promised them. They refused and that led to forty years of wandering in the desert. Now, at the other side of that forty years, Moses wants the new generation to understand something; they have no excuse for not doing what God told them to do.

In our passage, Moses tells the children of Israel that they are the favored people of God. Esau was rejected. Yet, God told him to claim this land, and he did. Also, there were giants in the land (the Emims), and they defeated them. They were not God's chosen people, and yet God promised them a victory, and they trusted God to do what He said. Israel had no excuse!

If you were to read further in this chapter, you would also find that the descendants of Ammon and Moab did the same thing. Ammon and Moab were the sons of Lot who were born to him by his daughters. The girls got their father drunk and had an incestuous relationship with him. They both had sons by their own father. These men, born in sin, were told by God to go in and conquer the land east of the Jordan river and they did. There were giants in their lands also, and they obeyed God. Israel had no excuse!

As Christians, we often say "I can't". We have so many promises from God in His word, but we do not trust God. Then, we see where someone with less than us does exactly what God told them to do, and they are successful. God puts kings on their thrones, even if they do not acknowledge Him. They do what God had ordained for them to do, but we make excuses. This passage is here to remind us, that like the Children of Israel, we have no excuse. We need to trust God and His promises. If He brings us to the banks of a river and tells us to cross, we need to trust that He has already gone ahead of us and is there waiting. If He brings us to an enemy, we need to trust that He will fight our battle for us. If He will do it for the pagans, how much more so for His children?

Father, thank You for this seemingly insignificant passage that takes away all of our excuses. Help us to see Your faithfulness in Your word. May we not be brought to shame for our doubt like the Children of Israel in this passage. Help our unbelief (Mark 9:24).