Choose Life
ICR DAY OF PRAISE
May 10, 2006"I call heaven and earth to record this day against
you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing:
therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live"
(Deuteronomy 30:19)
Shortly before his death, Moses restated the law and the covenant
between God and His people summed up in the greatest commandment: "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy might" (Deuteronomy 6:5).
Furthermore, Moses claimed that "this commandment which I command
thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is
not in heaven. . . . Neither is it beyond the sea" (Deuteronomy
30:11-13). Nothing about it was hard to understand. "But the word is
very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do
it" (Deuteronomy 30:14).
Indeed, the evidence that God is Creator, Judge, Provider, and
Redeemer is all around us. Our text informs us that "heaven and earth"
are witnesses of God's nature. We have more than enough information than
we need in order to respond. In fact, these things "from the creation of
the world are clearly seen" so that those who reject are "without
excuse" (Romans 1:20). Indeed, to ignore the evidence of Creation and
the Flood, one must be "willingly ignorant" (II Peter 3:5). Rejection is
foolishness.
"See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and
evil" (Deuteronomy 30:15). The choice is between blessing (v.16) and
cursing (v.19). All lines of reasoning point toward the God of the Bible
as the one true God. "Therefore choose life," as our text encourages us,
"That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His
voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him: for He is thy life" (v.20).
JDM |