Deuteronomy 30:9-14 (NRSV)
Read Deuteronomy 30:9-14 on biblegateway.com
Verse 9and the Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all your undertakings, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your soil. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors, Verse 10when you obey the Lord your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Verse 11Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. Verse 12It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" Verse 13Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" Verse 14No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
Devotion
The Fourth of July is a traditional time to remember the good side of our country's history. Yet today we seem to be embroiled in some of the lowest kind of mean spirited and bone-headed political rhetoric I've ever heard. It doesn't seem hard to engage in such talk; it isn't too far from us. Character assassination, belittling and half-truths aimed at ruthlessly defaming people has come to be normal and brings with it devastating results. The passage from Deuteronomy today reminds us that God's Law, God's intention for us, imagines and offers a different kind of "normal" for people: one that prospers rather than destroys us.
There is a general, built-in outcome that comes naturally when we respond to the summons to "turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (verse 10). Is it the prospering of goodness and love rather than hate and hurt? And isn't it also very close at hand, just as close as it's opposite—in our hearts where God has put it?
Prayer
O Lord, teach us to turn to you and find true life for ourselves, our country and our world. Amen.