TUSITE MA’ASI 10, 2026

DEUTERONOMY 32-34; Psalm 86:8-13

No one is like our God. Nothing compares to him. He is glorious beyond our ability to comprehend.

‘Oku ‘ikai ha taha ‘e tatau mo hotau ‘Otua. ‘Oku ‘ikai ha me’a ‘e ala fakatatau mo Ia. ‘Oku ope atu hono langilangi mo hono naunau ‘i hotau mafai ke tatae ‘a ‘Ene ‘Afio.

For a few summers I was a chaplain at a camp in the middle of Pennsylvania. The camp's ministry philosophy was to blow the campers away with the stunning glory of God in creation and give them an introduction to the glory of God as Savior. I loved my time there, as did my family. The camp was located in a valley between two mountain ranges. One afternoon I sat on the porch of the main building that overlooked the valley, and I watched dark clouds rise over the mountains as a storm began to build. In a few minutes the clouds broke, thunder roared, and lightning seemed to be everywhere. Rain came down with power like I had never seen before. I was transfixed, glued to my seat by the scary, thunderous glory I was viewing. The storm passed over us as quickly, as it had risen, the sky brightened, and we could hear claps of thunder in the distance as the storm dumped its glory on another valley. Those of us on the porch spontaneously applauded. We were all blown away by the power we had just experienced, but our applause was about something deeper. We knew that what we had seen was a minute glimpse of the glorious glory of the God behind the storm.

Moses's final act as the great leader of the children of Israel was to pronounce a blessing on each of the tribes of Israel. The great prayer/poem of Deuteronomy 33 builds to this crescendo:

There is none like God, O Jeshurun,

who rides through the heavens to your help,

through the skies in his majesty.

The eternal God is your dwelling place,

and underneath are the everlasting arms.

And he thrust out the enemy before you

and said, "Destroy."

So Israel lived in safety,

Jacob lived alone,

in a land of grain and wine,

whose heavens drop down dew.

Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you,

a people saved by the LORD. (Deut. 33:26-29)

Moses had witnessed incredible displays of divine glory. He had seen God unleash his power to deliver, protect, provide for, and guide the children of Israel. From the plagues in Egypt, to the water walls of the Red Sea, to the glory display on Sinai, to the cloud and pillar of fire, and finally to manna on the ground every morning, God had displayed his glory on behalf of Israel. Moses summarized all he had experienced with these two exultant statements: "There is none like God" and "Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD." 

May we who have experienced the redeeming grace of Christ Jesus start each morning with this twofold declaration: "There is no God like my God" and "I am happy today because I am among that great company of people who have  been saved by the Lord."

 MONITE MA’ASI 9, 2026

TEUTALONOME 30-31; ‘AISEA 40:28-31

Strength for the believer is not an independent accomplishment but rather the result of the presence and power of God.

Ko e ivi ki he tokotaha tui, ‘oku ‘ikai ko ha me’a na’a ne ngaue’i ‘iate ia pe, ka ko e ola ‘o e ivi mo e lotolotonga ‘o e ‘Otua.

Though the life, ministry, and leadership of Moses comes to an end, God does not leave his children leaderless. He raises up leader after leader, until the train of God-appointed leaders culminates with the Messiah, Jesus Christ. As you work your way through the Old Testament, you encounter three kinds of leaders God raises up and through whom he guides his children. Leading Israel are prophets, priests, and kings. These three offices would be fulfilled by Jesus, who is the final and eternal prophet, priest, and king for the children of God.

At the end of Deuteronomy, God's people are in a significant moment of transition. They are preparing to enter the promised land - but without Moses. Who will fill the vacuum that Moses leaves behind? What kind of man will be able to deal with the grumbling, complaining, fearful, God-doubting, and often rebellious Israelites? Who will be able to handle the internal trouble in the Israelite camp, while at the same time leading them to conquer the nations that inhabit the promised land? Who can do this with hope and courage?

God appoints Joshua as the next leader of the Israelite children, but not because Joshua is a giant among men. God does not employ people in his work because they are able, but because he is infinitely able. Listen to the words that accompany Joshua's calling:

Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." (Deut. 31:7-8)

It is clear that God doesn't choose Joshua because he is independent, strong, and capable. Then why can Moses say to Joshua, "Be strong and courageous"? Here is why: Moses understands the promises, resources, and power of the Lord. God never sends his children to do a task without going with them. When God sends his children, he doesn't leave his promises behind. When God sends his children to do his work, he empowers them to do the work he has called them to do. When God sends his children, he never turns his back on them or leaves them to the small resources of their own strength. God's children can go forward fearlessly, doing what God has called them to do, for one reason only: he is with them in his glorious presence and power.

The promises of God's presence and power are fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who took on flesh and exercised his power to do what we never could have done on our own-that is, defeat the enemies of sin and death. Remember: as you do what God calls you to do, you are never alone.

 SAPATE MA’ASI 8, 2026

TEUTALONOME 28-29; MA’AKE 8:22-26

Your physical eyes can be wide open even while the eyes of your heart are sadly blind.

‘Oku malava pe ke ‘ā lelei ho mata fakamatelie, ka kui ‘a e mata ho laumalie.

During my time in seminary, Luella and I were houseparents at a school for the blind. We lived with about fifteen boys who either had been blind from birth or had become blind due to some kind of accident. We experienced firsthand the enormity of this physical deficit. We saw how it impacted every area of our boys' lives. We also witnessed the brilliant things our boys were taught so that they could do almost everything a sighted boy could do.

But there is a set of eyes dramatically more important than your physical eyes. A human being's most important sight comes from the eyes of the heart. Spiritual blindness is a life-destroying tragedy. If you are physically blind, you can forge a fairly normal existence, doing in your own way the things that sighted people do. But you cannot be spiritually blind and live well.

Hear the words of Moses:

Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: "You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear." (Deut. 29:2-4)

Moses makes a distinction that is important to understand. He points to a fault line that divides humanity. He says the Israelites saw with their physical eyes all that God had done for them, but they did not see these great wonders with the eyes of their heart. You can see and be blind at the same time. God's children saw the mighty wonders God had performed on their behalf, but they did not see (understand) the full spiritual significance of those wonders. Moses explains why they were blind to the spiritual glories behind the physical glories. When you are born, your physical eyes open; progressively, you gain clear vision. But it takes an act of divine grace to open the eyes of your heart to deep and wonderful spiritual mysteries.

Apart from an act of divine grace opening your eyes, you can look at wonderful things in creation but not see the glory of the one who has designed those things and set them in place. Without being visited by eye-opening grace, you can read the words on the physical page of the Bible but not understand the spiritual realities those words reveal.

If your eyes are open to the glories of God in creation and the spiritual mysteries revealed in God's word, know that you have been visited by divine grace. God has done for you what you could have never done for yourself. He has opened the eyes of your heart so that you would see him in all his glory, know his redeeming fullness, and surrender your life to him. It is an eternally glorious thing to be visited by the divine optometrist.

 TOKONAKI MA’ASI 7, 2026

TEUTALONOME 24-27; SENESI 4:1-7

We should never give God what is left over, but rather offer him the first and best of what he has provided.

‘Oku ‘ikai totonu ke tau foaki ki he ‘Otua ‘a e toetoenga, ka ke tau foaki ange ‘a e tu’ukimu’a mo e lelei taha ‘o e me’a kuo ne tokonaki.

We have to look back to creation to understand fully the importance of Deuteronomy 26:1-2:

When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, you and shall go to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there.

Genesis 1 and 2 tell us that God is the Creator of everything. As the Creator of everything, he owns everything. I am a painter. After I have gone to my studio and completed a painting, it belongs to me, because I made it. God, as Creator, is the rightful owner of all that is. This means he owns me and everything that I am and have. Nothing belongs to me; it all belongs to him.

As the Creator of everything, God not only owns everything, but he also determines everything's purpose. If you sit down to sew a garment, you don't start aimlessly, hoping that your sewing will turn into something. No, you sit down with a distinct purpose in mind. You make every stitch to accomplish that purpose. God not only owns everything, but he also has a purpose for everything he has created.

So when God asks his children to give him the firstfruits of their crops, he is not asking them to take what belongs to them and give it to him. He is asking them to return to him a portion of what already belongs to him. Nothing we own is ours to use however we choose to use it. It all belongs to God, and is to be stewarded as he directs. Now, this is important to understand: God does not want whatever is left over after we have satisfied ourselves with the fruit of our work. God wants us to make our offering to him first. When we do so, we acknowledge that all we are and all we have belong to him to be used as he pleases.

God is protecting his children from the idol of possession. He knows that the acquiring and maintaining of material things and the pleasure they give can rule our hearts and shape how we live. There's grace in this command to offer God our firstfruits. God is rescuing us from us, so that we can know the joy of worshiping the Creator rather than living in bondage to the creation. He made us. We belong to him. He is where true life is to be found. So, offer him your first and your best. You'll be glad you did.

 FALAITE MA’ASI 6, 2026

TEUTALONOME 21-23; 1 PITA 1:13-21

The biblical story marches slowly to a man hanging on a tree: Jesus, who died as our substitute, the perfect sacrificial Lamb.

Ko e talanoa ‘o e Tohitapu, ‘oku fononga mamalie ki ha tangata ‘oku tautau ‘i he ‘akau: ko Sisu, na’e pekia ko hotau fetongi, ko e Lami haohaoa na’e feilaulau.

I wake up every morning with hope and joy. It's not because I always feel great. As I write this, I am in unrelenting pain. Something has happened to my back, which makes everything I do painful. Getting out of a chair is torturous. Riding in a car is agonizing. But my hope and joy are not diminished. My hope is not based on what God has called me to do. It does not rely upon people's opinions of me or my financial security. My hope is not based on the fact that I am married to my hero or that I have four wonderful children. My hope really does look back to a tree, outside of the walls of an ancient city, where an innocent man willingly suffered the cruelest and most humiliating kind of death, crucifixion, for the sake of my forgiveness, my reconciliation to God, my adoption into his family, and my eternal place with him in glory. Jesus is my hope. Jesus is the source of my joy. His work on my behalf, his presence, and his grace-not my suffering, my work, or my family-define me. My chronic pain does not make me angry or bitter, because I am daily blown away by the knowledge of what he has done for me and of who I am in him.

In Deuteronomy 21 God gives directions for how to deal with a man who has committed a capital crime, that is, one punishable by death. Such a person is to be hanged on a tree. It's a hard passage to read, but it is there for our guidance and protection. This passage sits in the Old Testament to remind us that God takes sin seriously, so we better take it seriously too. In order to have a relationship with his people, God never ignores or minimizes sin. This passage has been retained to remind us that something has to happen that will allow sinners to have a relationship with a perfectly holy God.

Deuteronomy 21:22-23 points us to two trees. First, it looks back to the tree in the garden of Eden, where temptation and sin first entered the world and separated people from their Creator. Second, it looks forward to that tree on the hill of Golgotha, where Jesus willingly suffered and died for our justification and eternal adoption into the family of God. In Deuteronomy, one man hangs because of his sin; on Calvary, one man hangs for the sins of others. In Deuteronomy, one man suffers the penalty for his iniquity; on Calvary one man pays the penalty for multitudes. One tree is a tree of death; the other tree is, ultimately, a tree of life. On one tree hangs a man who has no hope; on the other tree a man's death gives eternal hope to a countless company of sinners.

We have hope because of what Jesus did on that tree, and because of what he continues to do for us with mercies that are new every day.

 TU’APULELULU MA’ASI 5, 2026

TEUTALONOME 17-20; HEPELU 1:1-2

We should never underestimate the magnificent, life-giving blessing that is ours by the fact that God speaks to us.

Mahu’inga ke ‘oua te tau ta’e tokanga’i ‘a e faufaua mo e tapuaki foaki mo’ui ‘oku tau ma’u ‘i he mo’oni ko eni; ‘oku lea ‘a e ‘Otua kiate kitautolu.

It doesn't take long in the biblical narrative for God to speak. After creating everything by the power of his word, God speaks directly to Adam and Eve (Gen. 1:27-28). Here are perfect people in a perfect world, with a perfect relationship to God, yet they are completely dependent on his words to make sense out of life, to be what he designed them to be, and to do what he created them to do. Shalom is shattered early in the redemptive story, when Adam and Eve decide to disobey the words of their Creator, to take their lives into their own hands, and to step outside of the boundaries that God had set for them.

If Adam and Eve, in perfection, were completely dependent on the word of the Lord, how much more were the children of Israel? They lived in a world full of evil, where lies abounded. They were about to enter a place where false gods would greet them at every turn and where magicians, sorcerers, and divinators would vie for their attention. They needed the true, pure, and trustworthy word of the Lord to cut through all the noise of false voices, so that they would not be deceived but would live as God had called them to live. It was a huge blessing, then, that God promised them not just one prophet, but a continuing line of prophet after prophet, so that God's truth and will would guide, protect, and correct them.

The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers-it is to him you shall listen- just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, "Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die." And the LORD said to me, "They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him." (Deut. 18:15-18)

What protecting, guiding, and correcting love! This promise means that God's people will never be without the word of the Lord, no matter who they are, no matter where they are, and no matter what they might face. As I read these words, I think of myself. I wouldn't have a clue as to who I am, without the word of the Lord. I wouldn't know how to live, without God's word. I wouldn't know what is true or false, apart from God's word. I would have no wisdom to offer were it not for the word of the Lord. I wouldn't know how to live with others, how to make decisions, or where to look for spiritual help and hope, were it not for the word of God. It's hard to think of a more important promise than this. And remember, this is a messianic promise. Jesus is God's final Word to us; his words and work are life to us.

 PULELULU MA’ASI 4, 2026

DEUTERONOMY 14-16; Matthew 25:31-40

We see the beauty of the tenderness of the Lord in his compassion for the poor.

‘Oku tau mamata ki he masani mo e anga’ofa ‘o e ‘Otua ‘i he’ene manava’ofa ki he masiva. 

Philadelphia, where I have lived since 1987, has a homelessness problem. Thousands of homeless men and women live on the streets of my city. I encounter them almost everywhere I go. Sometimes they are begging for money, sometimes they have taken over a sidewalk with a temporary dwelling, sometimes they are angry and threatening, and sometimes they are asleep in a doorway or over the warmth of a grate. I wish I could say that I always meet them with compassion in my heart, but I can't. Sometimes I see them as a nuisance, in the way of what I want to do, and sometimes they make me angry. My problem isn't that homeless people exist; my problem is the coldness and selfishness of my heart. This means that I am not yet at the spiritual place where my heart mirrors the heart of my Lord.

That is why the following directives God gives Israel through Moses are instructive for me:

If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, "The seventh year, the year of release is near," and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the LORD against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, "You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land." (Deut. 15:7-11)

Pay attention to God's compassion-call to Israel:

"You shall not harden your heart... against your poor brother."

"Take care lest there be any unworthy thought in your heart."

"Your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him."

"You shall give to him freely."

"There will never cease to be poor in the land."

"Open wide your hand. to the needy and to the poor."

Imagine what would happen if we acted with the compassion portrayed in God's call to Israel. Think of how our response to the poor would change if we remembered the words of the apostle Paul: "You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich" (2 Cor. 8:9).