Choose Life
I love the book of Deuteronomy. But that is a relatively new revelation, as I had never paid much attention to it before. Jesus was able to refute all the temptations of the devil with quotes from Deuteronomy and well, whenever Jesus says something, we should pay attention. So, I got excited when I read this: “But you are not the only ones with whom I am making this covenant with its curses. I am making this covenant with both you today who are standing here today in the presence of the Lord our God, and also with the future generations who are not standing here today.” (Deuteronomy 29:14,15)
A covenant with God always benefits His people: but it does come with curses if we don’t choose the blessing.
You might be like I was and think that doesn’t apply to me, but it does! There was a time in my life when the Bible was the last place I would turn to for hope. But when the pain in my life got too great, I fell for the lie of the Enemy that I needed to try to make myself happy because God ‘didn’t care about me’. So, I tried: and failed miserably. When I finally opened my Bible, it was a last resort. But when I started reading what Jesus had to do for my sin to make me right with God, and I realized how wrong I was, then I felt worse. But that wasn’t from God either: only acknowledge your sin and accept forgiveness. We need to find out what God says He is like, not what Satan says He is like. He is always calling us back home.
See, whenever anyone turns to Christ, they become a son of Abraham! We are grafted into the family of God because of Jesus and now all these promises are for us too. And the promises are incredible and show God’s kind heart toward His children. But there’s a catch: they are only yours if you love Him with your whole heart. If you don’t love Him with your whole heart, then there are negative consequences. And you might think ‘well, that’s not fair. That’s too hard!’ But God does something amazing for those who look for Him: He lets them find Him. And when you find Him, and get to know Him – well, you can’t help but love Him!
And then, He wants us to recognize that we have all received “one blessing after another’ from Him. Danny just read to me what the children of Israel did when they needed supplies to build the Tabernacle in the desert. ‘So, the people of Israel- every man and woman who was eager to help in the work the Lord had given them through Moses-brought their gifts and gave freely to the Lord.’ (Ex 35:29). Their hearts were moved by all God had done for them, so their gift giving didn’t seem like a burden but instead it was a joy. And that’s when it hit me: He’s saying the same thing in Deuteronomy- we are to serve Him with joy and enthusiasm for the abundant benefits we have received: and if I can’t do that, then something is wrong with my perspective! That was my story once. Because of the pain in my life, I had put God behind me. And when I ran out of things to try to make myself happy, I reluctantly opened my Bible. But guess what: He met me right where I was. He showed me how good it is to be alive, and how good my life could be with Him.Get to know Him, treat Him with the fear and honor He deserves. He created you right along with the great white shark. Think about that for a minute: He deserves respect for His power. And yet, He wants a relationship with us that we choose. He would never force us to choose Him but why would we choose anything else? Well, there are a couple of reasons we would choose something less than God: our pride, our distrust of His character, and our Enemy who deceives us. And none of those will end up well for us. For me, I needed to stop doing things that dishonored Him. I knew what they were. They needed to go and that seemed impossible at first. But guess what- on the other side of letting go of the thing that seems impossible to let go of, is joy. Freedom. It’s counter intuitive.
So, here’s the blessings for the one who loves God with their whole heart and seeks to walk in His ways:
-He will conquer your enemies
-He will guarantee a blessing on everything that you do
-He will establish you as His holy people and others will be in awe of you
-He will give you prosperity
-He will make you the head and not the tail
-You will always be on top and never at the bottom
Wow. I want that! But there was a time that I didn’t trust God to do that for me. So, I wandered off on my own for a while and found myself miserable. Thankfully, this didn’t go on indefinitely, but some of the things that those who oppose God will find in their lives are things like this:
-all your work is cursed. Everything goes wrong.
-all your relationships with your kids will be bad.
-you will experience confusion and frustration constantly
-physically, you will suffer from wasting diseases, fever, and inflammation
-madness, blindness, and panic
-you will be oppressed and robbed continually
-you will go mad because of all the tragedy you see around you
-you will become an object of mockery, horror, and ridicule among the nations where God sends you
-all this will serve as a sign and a warning among you and your descendants forever.
Are these kinds of things true in your life? As I was just saying, there was a time that this was true in my life. But God, in His mercy, opened my eyes to how good He is! To how good my life could be with Him! And that is who He is: He allows us to return to Him when we repent, and then He does the unthinkable: He restores us to even greater honor, even greater relationships with our children, even greater joy than we have ever known before. But we have an Enemy who tells us constantly that God is holding out on us, and that there is something better: but that is a lie. Stop believing that God is against you and start trusting Him. When I first started reading my Bible, I gradually became convinced of the truth. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17). So, if you are not sure about any of this, I would encourage you to do what I did: ask God to open your eyes and start reading His word. The light will come on!
And now listen to what the Lord told Moses to tell the people: ‘Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying Him, and committing yourself firmly to Him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ (Deuteronomy 30:19,20)
Still true for us. Choose life.
