24 April 2022
[고통의 유익 The Profit from Pain]
#강해설교 #신명기 #Deuteronomy32: 10-14 #찬송가384

신명기 32:
10여호와께서 그를 황무지에서, 짐승이 부르짖는 광야에서 만나시고 호위하시며 보호하시며 자기의 눈동자 같이 지키셨도다
11마치 독수리가 자기의 보금자리를 어지럽게 하며 자기의 새끼 위에 너풀거리며 그의 날개를 펴서 새끼를 받으며 그의 날개 위에 그것을 업는 것 같이
12여호와께서 홀로 그를 인도하셨고 그와 함께 한 다른 신이 없었도다
13여호와께서 그가 땅의 높은 곳을 타고 다니게 하시며 밭의 소산을 먹게 하시며 반석에서 꿀을, 굳은 반석에서 기름을 빨게 하시며
14소의 엉긴 젖과 양의 젖과 어린 양의 기름과 바산에서 난 숫양과 염소와 지극히 아름다운 밀을 먹이시며 또 포도즙의 붉은 술을 마시게 하셨도다

Deuteronomy 32:
10 He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions,
12 the Lord alone guided him, no foreign god was with him.
13 He made him ride on the high places of the land, and he ate the produce of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock,
14 Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of
Bashan and goats, with the very finest of the wheat and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape. (ESV)

[The Profit from Pain 고통의유익]

The painful agony in our believing life leads us to satisfaction with God only (12), even though we hate the pain itself.

At the end of the journey to Canaan Moses preached to the Israelites who were about to enter the Canaan to encourage them.

First of all, there aren’t details of the Israelites’ merits on their struggling life including the wars. Only God solved their problems. (12)

Now we can picture our own struggling life from the verses.
I would point out two images; verse 11, an eagle, the metaphor of God, stirs up its nest and flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions.
Why does God catch and bear us on his pinions where we are almost falling down?What about more closely on his back?
And verse 13; can you find any food and oil from the flint rock?
Perhaps our difficulties are helped by God with us almost falling off the edge, as a close call, to make us rely on Him and know that it is His helping hand. We would not seek Him and know Him as our Father with swift resolutions of our difficulties.

These details of our painful situation are verifying that we are His people, He is our Father. So that’s why we cannot find any hints of the Israelite’s action or efforts from these verses. 1)

As our Father, God really wants us to prosper even in this world.
Of course this prosperity is beyond material blessing. What then is the spiritual blessing that God really wants us to get?

The answer is verse 14. Strangely when Moses preached this verse the Israelites had not crossed the Jordan River yet but they already had a taste of the prosperity in Canaan as the booty from the war of Bashan (3:1-11) 2) , which was a plenty of meats and dairies even the vintage wine and more than organic strong flours for breads, the picture of lavish and luxurious life in that time.

In this world we have a hint of taste in heaven’s prosperity and we never give up pursuing the taste of it. Because God lets us know that He also never gives us up even in our painful situations that we cannot solve.
Guhyun Woo

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1) James Robson, Honey from the Rock (Nottingham: Apollos, 2013), p. 63.
2) Allan Harman, Deuteronomy (Ross-shire: Christian Focus Publications, 2001), p. 268.

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