Deuteronomy 30:6 “And the Lord your
God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring,so that you will
love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
that you may live.”
CROSS REFERENCES:
Deuteronomy 10:16 “Circumcise your hearts,
therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.”
Jeremiah 4:4 “Circumcise yourselves
to the LORD, circumcise your hearts, you people of Judah and inhabitants
of Jerusalem, or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil
you have done-- burn with no one to quench it.”
Jeremiah 24:7 “I will give them a
heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be
their God, for they will return to me with all their heart”
Colossians 2:11 “In whom also you are
circumcised with the circumcision made without hands”
Romans 2:29 “No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and
circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written
code. Such a person's praise is not from other people, but from God.”
This post is more
about thinking things through. I wrote above the words of Deuteronomy 30:6
along with the cross references of the Old and New Testaments. I am not giving
answers to anyone. Instead, I want to show you how first of all, I do not take
one verse and make it my preferred pillow and rest on it for the rest of my
life unless it has been confirmed in my heart by the Holy Spirit. Only after I search
according to His glory and His goals, not mine. So, my process is to make sure
that I ask Him to reveal the difference between the verses, to my heart. I make
sure my motives are right with God, that I am not seeking for one specific
verse to be right, over the other one. I
humble myself before Him and pray for the result He expects to see in me. I
also spend time meditating on them as long as God wants me to, until I hear
from Him. I usually go with an open heart and willing to do anything He asks of
me to get to the expected results. So, whether it is pain, loss, humiliation, I
am game. If by any chance, I do not have to suffer to get it worked out within
me, then it is a bonus.
Those verses first
show that God’s plan has never changed. It has remained the same yesterday, today and forever
and our ability to join Him in His quest, and ability to truly love Him or
reject Him, do not change what He is doing. He has one trajectory and never
deviated from it.
Secondly, there seems to
be a contradiction in those verses. Deuteronomy 10:16 and Jeremiah 4:4
implied that we have something to do with it, about the circumcision of the
heart. Deuteronomy 10:16 tells us why the
heart is not circumcised “ and do not be stiff-necked any longer.” And Jeremiah
4:4 tells us of the consequences of not having a circumcised heart.
Now, if you feel because
those verses are in the Old Testament and they have nothing to do with us
Christian, my answer to you is that you have a stiff-necked that causes you to
be spiritually blind and ignorant. There is nothing I can do about that.
Personally, God taught
me only after I found out through an experience with Him, how wonderful it was
to be under grace. He let me enjoy the
freedom that I found for not being under the law. Then three days later He told
me that I was being held at a higher standard than the Israelites, because I
was under grace. (That was such a buzz kill)
Thirdly, Deuteronomy 30:6,
Jeremiah 24:7, Colossians 2:11 and Romans 2:29 seem to indicate that the circumcision
is done solely by the Spirit of God.
As I read Deuteronomy
it took me back to the time that I lived this dilemma, and inquired of God as
to why the discrepancies. I will be bluntly honest with you, by then, I was not
interested in asking anyone to help me understand except God. Sometimes He would
tell me things through some pastors who are living in intimacy with Him. But, I
usually go to God first to find out what I need to understand spiritually.
I spent months,
those months turned to years and He never answered this specific question about
what my heart considered discrepancies. (In reality they are not discrepancies)
Although I was told I had a new heart
when I first said the sinner’s prayer, yet I never heard God in my heart and
had no idea how to communicate with Him personally except through prayers. I
also knew nothing of what it meant to walk in the Spirit. After I consecrated
myself, surrendered every bit of who I am to Him, I started dreaming and had
visions. In my dreams I had the same man who would come to me. But He looked
like a shadow He would sit and talk to me for hours in the night and I would
wake up so much wiser with so much joy in my heart. There were times I was so
sure I was not sleeping. Anyway, I will spare you the details of those years. In
2005, He started teaching me meditation, it was amazing because I knew every
single time He wanted to talk to me. I would just immerse in my Bible or some
Bible verses that I read before. As I learned to meditate, I dreamt less and
less.
When I was almost
five years in the wilderness, I started hearing His voice in my heart. It was a
phenomenal experience where He allowed me to live for a few days where I could
see it all with my spiritual eyes. He gave me instructions as to why, how, what
and everything I needed to know. I am such a simpleton, I remember asking Him,
why do I have ears in my heart then? What I am driving at, the final
instruction that I received what “here is your new and circumcised heart. I
would have loved to be able to keep the experience all the time, but He took it
away. One question He did not answer during that period of time is: “why are
you giving a new heart to me now, shouldn’t I have received it like I was told a
few years back when I said the sinner’s prayer? Over the years, He has allowed
me to understand why.
I also learned,
when God does not give me an answer right away, it is because He knows I will
not be able to handle the response right away. Often time, it is because I lack
the spiritual maturity level, for it. Sometimes I know it is not my business. If
He feels it is not my business, He will give me a profound peace about it and
would confirm in my heart that what I know, even though I cannot explain it now
in this life, does not change the fact that it is His truth. Nevertheless, I have
learned to keep walking while I wait upon Him for what I do not understand.
I will give you a
hint as to why the differences between those verses above. God knew the
Israelites could not and would not walk with Him. Moses knew once they reached
the Promised Land, their habit of disobeying God, which was ingrained in those
who died in the wilderness, as well as the new generation, would not have
changed. For us today’s Christians, most of us still live as if God’s word is
idle.
QUESTIONS:
1. Why
do you think the Israelites failed?
2. What
do you think they could have done differently?
3. Why
did they miss out on all the warnings when they were written right there in
black and white?
4. Do
you think you have a circumcised heart?
5. What
proof do you have about your claim?
6. Why
do you think their failures were included in the Bible?
