Deuteronomy 30:15-20 (NRSV)
Read Deuteronomy 30:15-20 on biblegateway.com
Verse 15See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. Verse 16If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. Verse 17But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, Verse 18I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. Verse 19I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, Verse 20loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
Devotion
This week’s lessons resonate around the images and themes of “foundations” that ground and energize our lives as God’s people. In today’s lesson we, along with the children of Israel, are summoned to “choose life.” A faithful, obedient response to God is involves the serious choice between “life” and “death.”
Who among us would knowingly choose death? Yet it is no secret that death and brokenness stalk our daily lives. Choosing life is dependent on remembering where life itself is founded – in the sure and certain covenant promises of God. In daily return to this foundation, to the covenant promises of God, our hearts are renewed and we are drawn back again into the circle of God’s love. In that circle, all of life is once again marked by God’s blessing and we are empowered to live obediently in ways that lead to life and not to death.
Prayer
O God, I am so good at forgetting. Let me today return to the sure and certain foundation of your promises. At the foundation of your love let my heart be renewed that I may indeed choose life that is shaped by your word. Amen.