"Today I am giving you a choice of two ways. And I ask heaven and earth to be witnesses of your choice. You can choose life or death. The first choice will bring a blessing. The other choice will bring a curse. So, choose life! Then you and your children will live. You must love the LORD your God and obey him. Never leave him, because he is your life. And he will give you a long life in the land that he, the LORD, promised to give to your ancestors—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." (ERV)

Let’s face it––most of us, when we start reading anything in the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), fizzle out by the time we get to Exodus. And I’m going to be honest with you, I am no exception. But let’s add a historical overlay onto Deuteronomy, where we find today’s verse.

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Moses is at the end of his life and, following God as a pillar of fire and smoke, has led Israel out of Egypt and into the wilderness. Moses is getting ready to hand the reins over to Joshua as the nation is getting ready to go into the Promised Land.  

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Moses, at age 120, has had time to create history with his people; how many times has he (and them) messed up on the journey? How many times have they chosen their own strength rather than following the literal presence of God as a pillar of fire? Earlier in this book of the Pentateuch, Moses says, “I have led you in the wilderness forty years; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet” (Deut. 29:5). God’s provision isn’t a secret, and yet, they still didn’t go into the Promised Land the first time. They still made a golden calf as soon as Moses went up Mount Sinai (Ex. 32), choosing rebellion over and over during their wilderness season, instead of choosing God’s way.  

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When you first read todays’ passage, it can sound like a stern warning from a stoic Moses, standing there with his long robe, gray beard, and staff like a biblical Gandalf. But as I sit on this verse, I hear a father pleading with his kid who is getting ready to go off to college, saying, as you go into this new land full of new places and people, don’t forget to put first the God who gives you life.

I had a friend ask me once, “How do I know God will do what he said he will do?”  

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My response was, “Look back. Where have you seen him keep his promises? That’s how I know!” Often, though, I find that I tend to live with blinders on to what God has done in the past. The symptom of this forgetfulness normally looks like me working harder and harder at a plan God has not put into motion for me. I might stress about my finances more, or I might get frustrated at things that normally wouldn’t bother me. I build mountains out of mole hills, similar to how the Israelites tried to make a god out of a cow at the feet of the same mountain on which Moses was communing with the real Lord Almighty.

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Moses, in a last letter to his people, his children, pours out his heart for them to remember where their true life comes from. As the psalmist says, “I look up to the hills, but where will my help really come from? My help will come from the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth” (Psalm 121-:1-2).  

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We tend to work hard and strive to figure out this thing we call life, to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps to be good enough. And like Moses, our Father is saying, you can stop striving; I already took care of it, my child. We have a God that has already won the war––so we can rest in his grace, turning to him as the only source of life.

Abba you are so good, thank you for taking care of me even when I don’t realize it. Abba, help me see where I am trying to make my own salvation instead of resting in the salvation you have gifted me through the work your Son did on the cross. Amen.