Deuteronomy 30:11-20 Live or Death
Moses calls for the people to make their choice. He has set out all the evidence. He has provided them with the incentives and the warnings. Now it’s time to choose.
All the blessings and all the curses have been listed. All God’s commands have been reiterated. All the people have born witness to the miracles. And all the people know what is about to happen. It’s time to choose to live in covenant with God. It’s time to decide if they will truly be His people and if they want Him to be their God.
Time to make a choice. Will they serve God and receive His blessings or will they turn away like their fathers did and receive His curses? This choice is theirs to make. God won’t force their answer but they will have to live with the consequences of that answer, whichever way they decide to go.
God is still holding out this same choice for each of us today. We aren’t being asked to choose to live by the Law He gave to Moses though. We are being given the choice of accepting an even better covenant; the covenant of son ship.
I love how Moses reminds the people that the covenant they are making their decision about isn’t one that they have only heard about. “It is not in Heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to Heaven for us and bring it to us. That we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us. That we may hear it and do it?’ but the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it” (verses 12-14). They have been living this under this covenant for 40 years now. They have been speaking of it to their children. They have been experiencing His protection and direction. He isn’t a foreign god that they have only heard about. They have praised Him. They have prayed to Him. They have worshiped Him. And He has loved them. THAT is the God they are being asked to follow.
“Do you remember all I have done for you? Do you trust Me to keep My promises to you? Do you love Me enough to follow My commands? I want SO MUCH to bless you but you have to be willing to do as I have asked. You have to want Me as much as I want you. Can you do that?”
We Gentiles didn’t grow up with the Law of Moses. We were not included in this first covenant and we didn’t know God personally like Israel did. But when Jesus came we were given the opportunity to know Him. “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9b). Jesus shared the stories about His Father. He did the works of His Father. He taught us of His Father’s love for us. And He walked out that love to the end and beyond. THAT is the God we are being asked to follow.
“I LOVE you SO much that I moved Heaven and earth to bring you back to Me. You see, you were Mine in the beginning but sin got in the way. I couldn’t bear to leave it that way. I HAD to make a way for us to be together again. I made the toughest decision a Father can make. I gave You My Son as THE way back to Me. If there had been ANY other way I would have taken it! I asked Him to show you My love. I asked Him to show you the blessings I have in store for you. I asked Him to teach you My ways. And I asked Him to stand in your place of punishment because I knew it was too much for you to bear. And He said YES.”
“Now it’s your turn. Will you say YES to Him? Will you accept ALL that My Son has done for you? Will you love Him and follow the ways He told you to live? Will you love Him and love Me too? I SO want to count you as one of My children but this is the ONLY way I can do it! There is no other way. I LOVE YOU! Please love Me.”
It is still your choice. Will you ignore the Father calling out to you? Or will you say YES to ALL He has for you? Count me in! I’m saying YES!!!
Father God, YES! I want to follow where You lead. I want to be Your child. I want to have only YOU as my God. I want NO OTHER gods in my life! I choose life. Life with You for eternity.
Thank You for giving me that choice. You didn’t have to. You could have washed Your hands of the whole mess in the beginning, but You didn’t. You could have kept the relationship with You exclusive to descendants of Israel, but You didn’t. You could have spared Your Son and “let the chips fall where they may”, but You didn’t. You reached out through all the centuries and spoke directly to my heart and asked ME to be Your child. NO other choice even makes sense except to accept Your hand. I LOVE YOU. I CHOOSE YOU. Thank You for choosing me.
