Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
My thoughts -
Moses is giving the people the terms of the covenant they are entering with God as they prepare to enter the promised land. They have been given the law. They have been told what God desires for and from them. They have been told how they will be blessed and how they will be cursed depending on how they follow. Now Moses, or really God through Moses, is imploring them.
He tells them that this isn't that hard. They can do it. I love the language about the location of the law.
It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.While there is a lot of mystery to God and the universe there is also a lot that has been revealed. And we, who have been and are being created in the image of God have been given the ability to distinguish right from wrong in most situations. Sometimes what should be done is not clear and we need help to discern it but most of the time we know what we should and shouldn't do, we just need the strength to choose to do the right thing.
The Israelites also have very clear terms in their covenant with God that Moses has presented to them. There is not a lot of mystery there. We do not have this same covenant and maybe things are not always quite so clear but we do have resources to determine God's will. We need to use them. We have scripture and we have leaders in our churches and families and communities. We need to use the resources that we have.
Moses is laying out for the people two choices that God has presented them with and imploring them to choose well.
This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.We face these same choices every day. You'd think it would be easy and yet our rebellious, sinful, selfish nature overwhelms us at times. Thank God for the grace we have through Jesus.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7
No comments:
Post a Comment