September 10, 2020

The message of Deuteronomy is one that the church desperately needs to hear today. These final words of Moses given to the children of Israel as they prepared to enter into the Promised Land serve as a warning, an encouragement, and a charge. Through them, God exposes the idolatry of our hearts and calls us to give all of our love, worship, and devotion to Him alone in every area of our lives! Moses warns the people that when they enter the land there will be things that compete with God for their attention, their affections and their worship. We, too, have hundreds of things that compete for our hearts each and every day. In this book, God teaches us how to properly respond to the amazing grace He has given us by giving Him our undivided allegiance, our whole hearts and our whole lives. Over the next 34 days, let’s seek this ancient way together as a church!

This chapter is filled with beautiful promises from God! After laying out the blessings and curses of the covenant and renewing it in Moab, Moses begins telling the people what is going to happen: they are going to rebel and experience the curses. They will be exiled from the land God was giving them. This is bad news for the people of Israel, but this passage is so filled with hope!

On the other side of exile, God promises that when the people repent He will restore them! When the people would turn back to Him with all their heart and with all their soul, God would once again delight in prospering them and would make them even greater than their ancestors had been! The promise of forgiveness and restoration is a precious one that we cling to in Christ!

The problem is, the people need help turning to God with all their heart and with all their soul. Sin is so comprehensively destructive and evil that it leaves us unable to truly obey God from the heart. But there is another incredible promise that God gives us here: earlier in Deuteronomy Moses called the people to circumcise their hearts, but here God promises that He Himself will do this for His people! God promises to do what they could never do themselves so that they can love and obey Him and experience life in Him!

This promise has been fulfilled for us: we each have received a new, clean heart that loves God and obeys Him when we believed in Christ and were transformed and indwelt by the Holy Spirit! Praise God that, though we never could have and never would have turned to Him of our own volition, He has made a way for us by His grace!

Deuteronomy 30

Repentance and Forgiveness

30 “And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, 2 and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. 5 And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. 7 And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. 8 And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. 9 The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, 10 when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

The Choice of Life and Death

11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Family Discussion Question:

  • Moses tells the people that those who love God will obey His commandments (Deuteronomy 30:16), and Jesus says the same of Himself (John 14:15). How does obedience to God’s commands demonstrate love for Him and trust towards Him? How can you express that love today?

9 thoughts on “Daily Devotional-September 10th”

  1. Dear Heavenly Father,
    I believe in You, Lord and I want to obey and follow Your commandments. Please help me each day to avoid any kind of temptation. I know all I have to do is trust and obey and You will show me the way. Thank you for loving me. In Jesus name. Amen.

    2. Dear Lord help me to follow in your foot steps. Help me to keep evil away. I will follow your commadments. I trust you with my life. You.are my Lord and Savior. You have blessed me and given me new life. In Jesus name Amen

  2. Heaven Father,

    Thank you for another day. You formed me and knew me in my mother’s womb.

    I am weak without you. I wonder along life’s path without you.

    This is a day that you have made and I will be glad in it. Use this vessel, Father. Fill it with your Holy Spirit. You direct the gifts you have given me and use the talents that you are perfecting for good.

    Father, speak a kind word through me to someone who is hurting. Father, speak encouraging words through me to those down trodden.

    Father, may I share the hope I have in you with others this day. The lasting hope that comes from knowing Jesus Christ as my savior.

    Enable me this day by and through the name of Jesus Christ, your only son.

    Amen

  4. I know Lord that you love me and want what is best for me. Help me choose life, to follow and trust you, doing what is right, not to follow my desires, trust myself and disobey.

  5. Lord, my heart is once again humbled at the magnitude of Your love for all mankind. Help me help others who are in need and seeking You.

  6. Thank you Lord that I choose to follow your commandments that are in your Holy Bible. One of them is to Love your neighbor as yourself as so many people today do not follow it. There is so much hatred for one another and I pray that their eyes be opened up because we were all made the same no matter what race or culture we come from.

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