The Choice

Deut. 30:19-20

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.    

Moses is closing his address to the people. He has told them that God has set before them a very important choice: life and death, blessing and curse. Why wouldn't they choose life and blessing? Who in their right mind would choose death and curse? But in order to choose blessing and life, they had to love the Lord their God, walk in His ways, and keep His commandments, statutes and rules. If they would, He would allow them to live, multiply, and possess the land. However, if they refused, not only would they not possess the land, but they would perish. God called heaven and earth as a witness against them on this day. They had to make a choice!

What would it look like if they chose death and curse? First and foremost, they would worship and serve other gods, but they were also to guard their hearts. This problem was not as visible but just as deadly. They were to beware of the root bearing a poisonous and bitter fruit, one in which a person heard the words of the covenant, blessed himself in his heart, saying, I will be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart. The result of this inward attitude and action was a sweeping away of moist and dry alike. God was not willing to forgive but rather the anger of the Lord would smoke against that person. How strong!! God is not joking!!

Obedience is no option with God. Hebrews gives believers a very similar warning about their hearts. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. This is what happened to Israel's heart. They were hardened by the deceitfulness of sin thinking they could walk in stubbornness of heart, doing, thinking, and behaving in their own way and still have the blessing of God yet without obedience. It is amazing that man still clings to his own stubbornness today. He is given the same choice, life and blessing or death and curse, but even in the light of that clear cut choice, he hangs on to his own stubborn way. How strong is the flesh! How deceptive is sin! How foolish!

Father,
Expose sin's deceit and the root bearing a poisonous and bitter fruit. Show me clearly the truth about myself. Grant me a heart of repentance, life, and blessing.
In Jesus name,
Amen