30 Days to Deuteronomy: A Devotional Commentary

As a teenager, I was familiar with the stories of the Bible, or so I thought. I heard the Bible read and preached many times, though I’d not spent any time reading it myself. Following my conversion, though, I had a seemingly insatiable hunger to understand God’s word. I picked up the Bible and did what you do with all books—I started at the beginning and tried to read straight through. I was driven, but even then I didn’t make it out of the book of Numbers. The Bible was overwhelming, intimidating, and confusing. But, I did not stop. I skipped forward to the New Testament and began reading Matthew’s Gospel. As I read, I noticed all these little notes throughout my Bible. Before each sentence, and sometimes in the middle of sentences, there were little letters and numbers that pointed me down to the bottom of the page. There, I found all kinds of references to other passages of Scripture. In Matthew 4 I read about Jesus’ temptation by the devil in the wilderness. In this passage, Matthew placed several of Jesus’ statements in quotations marks, and, upon further reading I observed that Jesus was quoting the book of Deuteronomy. For the first time I remember thinking, “This whole book is connected.” And I was right. As I continued to read, I learned that the Bible was one big, united story. The different authors, writing to unique audiences at specific times in history, were telling the unified story of God’s work to save fallen humanity. Even more than that—the Scriptures found in the Old Testament actually helped to understand God’s character, man’s sin, and the salvation made possible by Jesus Christ. I was hooked. Since that time, the Bible has been an ever-increasing treasure for me. Every time I read God’s word I see his brilliance on display. Therefore, I’m grieved when people assume that the Bible is too difficult for them to understand or when they neglect God’s word and leave it to collect dust on the coffee table. I’m committed to work to help people read and understand God’s word for themselves and, for that reason, I decided to write 30 Days to Deuteronomy. I love the book of Deuteronomy because it provides one the most vivid pictures of the grace of God found in the Bible. The themes of the book illuminate the work of Jesus like none other. In it, you will see your sin and God’s love in fresh and new ways. I’m also excited about this 30 Days series. Books like 30 Days to Acts, 30 Days to James, and others are meant to provide readers with a succinct and clear, daily devotions through the books of the Bible. Our hope is that they will aid you in your reading and encourage you to persevere in your time in God’s word. Finally, I’m thankful for the work of Seed Publishing Group, a publisher committed to bringing great resources to both individual Christians and the local church (seed-publishing-group.com). As part of that commitment, they are partners with The Pillar Network for church planting (thepillarnetwork.com). One dollar from each sale of 30 Days in Deuteronomy goes directly to church plants throughout North America. May God use this book to capture your heart with the beauty of his word and may you treasure it all the days of your life. —Matt Rogers