Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends on this the final weekend of February, ’22.
I wonder if you’ve ever been to a ‘marriage vow renewal’ ceremony? Sometimes it’s a couple who’ve had a wonderful, long marriage and simply want to renew their commitment to one another and to God in their old age. Sometimes it’s a couple who’ve experienced turbulence in their marriage, maybe infidelity or separation, and they deeply desire to renew their vows to God and to each other, and live their future marriage years with sacred integrity. Whatever the motivation, ‘vow renewal’ is a powerful experience.
In our journey with Moses, he and the Israelites have come to a point of ‘vow renewal’ with each other and with God, here on the east side of the Jordan river, as they prepare to leave the desert and 40 years of living judgment, and finally enter the land God had promised their ancestors so long ago. Deuteronomy 28 is a powerful chapter in which Moses contrasts the blessings, if these people will live the contract covenant relationship with God which God was offering them which we discussed yesterday. But Deut. 28 is also a chapter in which Moses outlines the curses, the disasters, which will befall these people if they break the covenant and turn away from God as their parents and grandparents did! For their parents, the price of breaking their covenant with God was 40 years of wandering & dying in the desert. But here Moses wanted this generation to understand that because they had been eyewitness to it all, breaking the covenant of vow renewal would be even worse for them and their descendants.
Deuteronomy 29 is then Moses’ clear description and great appeal to the people to step forward and renew their vows to God, to live the covenant relationship God offers, and experience the great outpouring of God’s blessing on them as a nation, unlike any other nation had ever experienced. Moses said: “All of you are standing today in the presence of the LORD your God…in order to enter into a covenant with the LORD, a covenant the LORD is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, to confirm you this day as His people, that He may be your God as He promised you…” (Deut. 29:10-13) Do you hear how closely those words resemble what is said in a God honoring marriage ceremony? For the people with Moses that day they were immediately reminded of the scene recorded in Exodus 24, when Moses stood at Mount Sinai with their parents and grandparents, more than 40 years before. On that day that former generation did enter into a covenant with God to be His people and follow Him fully. But alas, within less than 40 days they had made a golden calf idol, and called it their god, and called for a new leader to take them away from Sinai and back to slavery in Egypt! You’ll find that story in Exodus 32.
Oh those standing with Moses, in Deuteronomy 29, knew that painful story so very well. Moses had repeated it to them and their parents had undoubtedly described it many times, warning their children not to make the same terrible mistake. So now here a new generation is given the same opportunity to be God’s people and move from the desert’s edge campsite into the land of God’s promise. But Moses had a grave warning he needed to declare: “Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of other nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.“ (Deut. 29:18)
I wonder friends, does this harsh reality motivate you to pray for your children and grandchildren, asking God to draw their hearts close to Him? Do you often talk with the younger generations of your family about the great dangers of our world which are enticing them to doubt, or disregard, or even reject God and instead pursue things that appear attractive but are self destructive traps in the deep darkness of our world? As you look through your extended family, do you see some who have done so and now are living in the despair of addictions, or broken marriages, or unwanted pregnancies, or the shame of moral or ethical bankruptcy?
Did you notice Moses’ powerful choice of words… “…make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison“? Oh I appreciate the graphicness of this line. “Bitter Poison” are two very powerful words, but if you spend much time with a person addicted to alcohol or drugs or pornography or gambling or lying and you see the ravages of that poison in their lives, then you must agree with Moses’ wise choice of these words… bitter poison! There is so much deadly, but attractive poison in our world enticing, then enslaving and then killing so many people of all ages every day!
And what about the other powerful word Moses used… “ROOT”? Look at any living plant or bush or tree… roots are amazing things aren’t they? Like tentacles they reach for nutrition and water and they sustain the life of the plant! Roots can be thin like a human hair or huge and rugged. Roots can work around rocks or can penetrate very hard ground looking for water. Where are your life roots reaching my friends, what attracts your life roots, and what nourishment are they bringing into your life? Now don’t rush past that picture in your mind… ponder it honestly. Your roots will nourish you, either to health or to terminal illness.
The prophet Jeremiah has a powerful word about our life roots: “Cursed is the person whose heart turns away from the LORD. He will be like a bush in the wasteland… But blessed is the person who trusts in the LORD. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.“ (Jeremiah 17:5-8) So I ask again… where are your life roots reaching, my friends? What attracts them? What nourishment or malnourishment are your roots bringing into your life?
Moses continued his farewell message that day with this profound warning: “When a person hears the words of this oath but thinks, ‘I will be safe even though I persist in going my own way’, this will bring disaster…” Look around your world my friends, do you see anyone who has heard God’s truths but has persisted in ignoring God, pursuing a life of rebellion against God, and God’s truth, and is now living in the disaster which God warned would be their consequences? Can you see the very clear consequences of turning away from what you know is right, what you know is true, and pursuing the deception of the dark kingdom? And do you recognize the dark, dreadful generational impact of rejecting God?
Moses continued: “Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will SEE the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the LORD has afflicted it.” (Deut. 29:22) As you look closely at the implosion happening in so many cities around our world, and then look more deeply into the moral chaos, and then more deeply into the root causes of the disaster taking place, what do you see my friends? I believe in most cases you will see exactly what Moses foretold here 3400 years ago. Choices have consequences, and the rejection of God, the abandonment of God’s truth and God’s morality will yield social calamity. Why? Because the evil which fills the void, when God is pushed out, will always bring despair… always!
As Moses concluded this very powerful message of appeal and warning, he made one of the most significant statements of all time. I will conclude today by giving it to you and I invite you to join me tomorrow as we dig deeply into this remarkable statement. For now, place yourself among that huge throng of Israelites there on the edge of the desert, almost desperate for the chance to cross the Jordan and shape a new future for themselves and their families. The warning and challenge they had received that day from Moses needs to be our challenge and our warning… “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to HIS voice, and hold fast to Him, for the LORD is your life…” (Deut. 30:19,20)
Read it slowly, several times, ponder it deeply… what is God saying to you this day about your past, this day, and your future? And what about those whose lives you touch? And here’s a song to help you reflect…
Today’s Scripture is Deuteronomy 29.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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