How many times have you kept driving down 287 instead of veering left to 414? I’ve made that mistake a few times in my few years here. But we’ll all take a mere U-turn instead of eternal condemnation. Such is the kind of fork in the road the Lord offers Israel in this chapter.
God sets up a dramatic conclusion to Moses’ sermon as a means to respond to His Word. Set before the people are two options: life and death (Deut. 30:18–20). Yet in God’s gracious yet exacting Word, He informs them that He already knows they are going to turn down the wrong road and need a redemptive U-turn.
We, like Israel, will fail in listening and obeying. The people will not remember the blessings and curses; therefore, God will disperse them as consequence (Deut. 30:1). He will speak into the hearts of His people in His good, providential timing to cause them to remember—so He will gather His people through remembrance of His promises and His very nature (Deut. 30:2–5). The work of gathering and re-planting the people is described as that of regeneration and re-establishment of covenant (Deut. 30:6).
Israel will know, when they arrive back in their land, it was God’s doing all the while. They haven’t even entered the land yet, but God already distinguishes the future as part of His sovereign care. How are a people drawn and redeemed? Through the fatherly zeal of He who remembers His Word. Still, God demonstrates (and reveals) the work of salvation by calling His people to listen and obey—and so exercise the wonderous grace by which He enlivens them (Deut. 30:10). He does not leave His people, even in their self-made exile, but keeps His Word near them that their hearts may cleave unto His faithfulness (Deut. 30:14, 17).
The way of life and death are set before each one of us, even in those places seemingly benign. The last words of this sermon from Moses are not only of caution but of grace (Deut. 30:18–20). He who desires to live and enjoy the goodness of God, do not miss the fork in the road! Listen to His Word. Live in His Word. How will you choose the path of life in your small tasks as much as in your big decisions this week?
Pastor Chris
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