Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany: Old Testament, Deuteronomy 30:15-20     

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

It’s funny how, deep in the human heart, is the sense that wrongs can only be set right by our efforts. Even down to the choices we make on the little things. Well what we have before us in our Old Testament reading is hardly a little thing. But still we need to be clear on what it is we are actually hearing from the Lord here. God, through dear Moses, is giving final instruction for the future journeys of God’s people. God, indeed sets a choice, an immense choice before them. It really is a life and death choice. All the blessings of obeying the Lord’s commands over and against the brutal consequences of disobedience. Moses concludes with the exhortation to “choose life.”

Herein lies the danger. It existed for the people of God in Moses’ day, and it exists for us today. We dare not miss it. God does not tell the people that when they choose His way that that will make them His people. No. They are already His people. “Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God” (Deut. 30:19-20, emphasis added). Notice, Moses addresses the crowd and reminds them they belong to Yahweh. They belong to the Lord, as do we, by His choice not ours. “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit …” (John 15:16).

It’s the very same order of things. God makes us His people by choosing us, by setting His name upon us, and giving us His Spirit. Our choices after that serve to honor the family resemblance, or they disfigure it. The blessings or other consequences are still immense. But the source of our life should never be in doubt. We must keep things straight.