“I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life…” (Deut 30:19).
Even before Israel was able to enter the Promised Land, Moses had to give them the heartbreaking news that, in spite of all the encouragements to be faithful, they were going to be driven out of that land and scattered among the Gentile nations. It wasn’t only the positive blessings they had received—their exodus, God’s provision through the wilderness, His covenant with them to be their God, the revelations He gave through the Word, the model of heaven in the tabernacle, the system of sacrifices so sinners could still draw close to God, the driving out of their enemies, and a land “flowing with milk and honey”—the list was almost endless. But in addition, said Moses, “we came through the nations which you passed by, and you saw their abominations and their idols which were among them” (Deut 29:16-17). Why ever would you want to give up the God of love to worship “wood and stone and silver and gold”? After it happened, God would speak through His prophet Jeremiah with graphic imagery: “My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer 2:13). But like a moth drawn to a flame, Israel abandoned the only true God for what were no gods at all. And yet…O what a God He is! Listen as Moses continues: “Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you,…and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice,…that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you” (Deut 30:1-3). Say, Christian, have you wandered from the Lord? Come home today! He will run to meet you.