See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity

Deuteronomy 30 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

“So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the Lord your God has banished you, ² and you return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, ³ then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. ⁴ If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. ⁵ The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.

⁶ “Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live. ⁷ The Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. ⁸ And you shall again obey the Lord, and observe all His commandments which I command you today. ⁹ Then the Lord your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the Lord will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; ¹⁰ if you obey the Lord your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.

¹¹ “For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. ¹² It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ ¹⁴ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.

¹⁵ “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; ¹⁶ in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸ I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, ²⁰ by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

What is it about the heart of man that it seems every time we are given a choice, many choose wrong. Jeremiah 17:9 says:  The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? In today’s text God says:  “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”   It was a choice to obey God or disobey Him which led to the curse of sin in the first place. Basically, Adam and Eve were told there was one thing they should not do or they would perish. That is of course the thing they did. People always have had and always will have a choice of whether or not to love God and to obey Him. There always have been and always will be consequences of that choice.

We may not live under the Old Covenant. For us the life and prosperity verses death and adversity are no longer the result of how well we keep the Law. In Matthew 26:28 Jesus says:     “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”  From the sin of Adam all the way to us today, Jesus paid the price for every sin, by His blood. John 3:16 says:  “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”   The consequences remain the same, life or death. The terms or the way of the first covenant was to follow the commandments of God, to love and obey Him. The way of the New Covenant is through the blood of Jesus. We live under the covenant of grace, but it is not merely by having the good fortune of being born after the cross. It’s not that because we live under grace instead of the law, there are no longer consequences for sin. There is still a choice each person must make, a choice of life and prosperity or death and adversity. In John 10:10 Jesus says:    “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”  To live under the blessing of grace, in the abundance of Christ, requires that we choose the blood of Christ. In John 14:6, Jesus says:  "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”    Many in the world say that it is arrogant and not inclusive to believe that there would be only one way to God. Those are not my terms they are His. Each person is free to choose how they will respond to God. Will they love and obey Him, keeping His commandments? In today’s text God says: “This commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.”   What God asks is not too difficult. It is not unreasonable or unfair. To love and obey God is not unreasonable. But, because people were and are unable, even before Adam and Eve made the choice to disobey God and allow the curse of sin into the world, God, because of His great love planned to send Jesus, His Son, to be our way to life and prosperity.   1 John 4:19 says:  We love, because He first loved us.

The choice has not changed, nor have the consequences. God says:  “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you.”     In John 14, Jesus also says:  “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments… He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him... If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”     We are all given a choice. It is set before you this day, life and prosperity or death and adversity.  

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit that we are given a choice. Thank You that we are created with a free will, an ability and a right to choose. The world loves to speak of its rights and choices, but never wants to face the consequences of choice. I choose life and prosperity through the blood of Christ. I choose the terms of the New Covenant. I believe. Holy Spirit help me daily to be obedient to all that God commands and to love Him with all my heart. Because of Your love and grace, I choose Christ.  Amen.