Deuteronomy 11:16–17

"Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them." Sad progress downward! The heart deceived. This is the beginning of all decline. "And you turn aside." The feet are sure to follow the heart. So there is deep need of keeping the heart with all diligence. The heart is the fortress of the whole moral being. As long as you keep it for the Lord, the enemy can gain no advantage. But once you give it up, all is really gone. Then comes the turning aside. The secret departure of the heart shows itself in practical ways: "other gods" are served and worshipped. The slide downhill is terribly fast.

The land of their inheritance was not like Egypt. Egypt depended on men's methods of irrigation, watered by "foot." Israel's land was a land of hills and valleys, and it depended on rain from heaven (vs.10-11). This pictures the spiritual inheritance of Christians today. They are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, unlike the earthly, material blessings of the people of the world. So we depend, not on our surrounding circumstances, but on the blessing of God from heaven.

But, alas! then as now, and now as then, the very fullness of the blessing they enjoyed might make them forget the gracious hand that gave it... Trial and need wake a man up to his need of God. But when he lacks nothing, he can easily lose the sense that he still depends on God... In this condition the gods that man's own heart has invented look more attractive than the glorious God. He is our Creator; He is not our creature. And so Israel can go after the idols of Canaan.

Idolatry takes various shapes. So the question is not the shape of the thing, but the thing itself. It is not the outward form, but the root or principle behind it. We read that "covetousness is idolatry," and that a covetous man is an idolater. That is, a man who wants more than God has given him is an idolater. He is guilty of the very sin of Israel when they made the golden calf and worshipped it... Our treacherous hearts can turn away from the living God and set up some other object beside Him. What is this but idolatry?

And may we not see a striking picture here? The barren land and the desolate wilderness show a soul out of communion, through disobedience to the precious commandments of Christ. Such a person has no refreshing communication with heaven. No showers come down. No unfolding of the preciousness of Christ to the heart. No sweet ministry of an ungrieved Spirit to the soul. The Bible seems a sealed book. All is dark, dreary and desolate.

The Lord had said through Moses, "Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them. Then the Lord's anger will burn against you. He will shut up the heavens, so that there is no rain, and the land yields no fruit" (Deut. 11:16-17). Now they had turned aside under Ahab. They were serving and worshipping other gods. So Elijah expected God to do what He said He would do in that situation. He asked Him to do it; he expected Him to do it; he boldly announced that He would do it. That was faith.

But this was not the case with the Lord's land — "the land of hills and valleys." If heaven yielded no supplies, everything was parched and sterile. Israel could not say, "My river is my own." No; they were always taught to look up. Their eyes were to be always on the Lord, just as the Lord's eyes were always on them. So if anything hindered the exchange between heaven and earth, the land of Canaan felt it with painful intensity.

"Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and you turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them." A sad downward progress! The heart deceived. This is the beginning of all decline. "And you turn aside." The feet are sure to follow the heart. So there is deep need to keep the heart with all diligence. It is the fortress of the whole moral being, and as long as it is kept for the Lord, the enemy can gain no advantage. But once it is surrendered, everything is really gone. Then comes the turning aside. The outward ways prove that the heart has secretly left. "Other gods" are served and worshipped. The slide down the slope is terribly rapid.

What barrenness and desolation there must be when heaven is shut up! No refreshing showers coming down, no dewdrops falling, no communication between heaven and earth. How often Israel had tasted the awful reality of this! "He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, a fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the evil of its inhabitants."

We know well that it is not God's desire that His people should suffer. He is not stingy, and if the rain is withheld, the fault lies with His people and not with Him. He had stressed this for them, so that they understood clearly that when heaven was "shut up" it was in chastening.

Now they had turned aside under Ahab. They were serving and worshipping other gods. So Elijah expected God to do what He said He would do in those circumstances. He asked Him to do it; he expected Him to do it; he boldly announced that He would do it. That was faith.

The reason why the land "flowing with milk and honey" became barren and sterile is found in Deuteronomy 11:17. God threatened the people: if they did not keep His commandments, He would withhold the latter rain and reduce the land to sterility. The threat was carried out, and for centuries there was no latter rain in Palestine. In this way the land has been kept for the people. The Turk conquered the land and held it for centuries. He had no reason to settle a land that was practically desert and could not support its inhabitants.

And may we not see a fitting and striking picture in the barren land and the desolate wilderness? It pictures a soul out of communion, through disobedience to the precious commandments of Christ. Such a person has no refreshing communications with heaven. No showers coming down. No unfolding of the preciousness of Christ to the heart. No sweet ministry of an ungrieved Spirit to the soul. The Bible seems a sealed book; everything is dark, dreary and desolate.