“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live. 20. That you may love the Lord your God, and that you may obey His voice, and that you may cleave unto Him: for He is your life, and the length of your days: that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
Deuteronomy is Moses’ summary of Israel’s journey from Egypt and his final advice for them before they go into Canaan. In verse 19, Moses gave them a challenge that “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live.” In other words, it will make a difference how you live when you enter Canaan. To choose death, they could just ignore the laws that God had revealed to Moses. To choose life, they could pay attention to what God wanted of them. In verse 20, Moses summarized what God would expect of them if they chose life. The first expectation was that “you may love the Lord your God.” This is always where service to God begins. When Jesus was asked what the first and greatest commandment was, His answer was: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38) Why wouldn’t they love God after all that He had done for them? God delivered them from Egypt. He provided food for them each day when He provided manna for them, and made quail available to them. He led them through their journey with a “pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.” Because of all of this, and more, Israel was told that to choose life was to first love God. The same is true for us. I guess many people have come to God out of the dread of His wrath, but they should love Him for delivering them from wrath. We should love God because He first loved us. We should love God because He loved us enough to give His Son as a sacrifice for our sins. Do you love God? The second expectation was that “you may obey His voice.” Love and obedience go together. If we love God, we will obey Him. As we learn from the Bible, Israel did not always obey God, and it eventually led to their captivity in Assyria and Babylon. The first commandment was: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) They were warned against worshiping, Baal, the main god of the people of Canaan. They simply ignored the first commandment and eventually went into captivity. God calls us to obey Him as well. We do not have to contend with Baal, but we do have to contend with all of the temptations of the worship of Baal. One example of this, among many other examples, is that the worship of Baal allowed them to obey their natural sexual, worldly urges. We don’t have Baal, but we surely have all of those temptations. It is not always easy to obey God. You would know that I was lying if I told you that I have always obeyed God. I am telling you the truth when I tell you that God has always shown me the results of disobeying Him. The people of God, whether ancient Israel or people of today are called upon to obey God. He expects us to obey Him. The third expectation was: “that you may cleave unto Him.” Our word for “cleave” is “cling.” We are to cling to God as we would cling to a buoy if we were drowning. The truth is that we are going to cling to something or someone. Some people cling to drugs or alcohol. Some people cling to their sexual proclivities. Some people cling to political systems and expect them to bring fulfillment. All of these, and any other thing that we cling to, will not bring salvation and joy into our lives. David found that out when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. Peter found that out when he denied the Lord. You need to pause here and ask yourself, and Jesus, what you are really clinging to. If it is not the Lord, then you need to let go of whatever else it is that you are clinging to and cling to Him. Moses pointed out the importance of this when he wrote, “For He is your life.” Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life.” (John 14:6) Cling to Jesus for He is life. Do you love God? Do you obey God? Do you cling to God? Your answer is very important! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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