Choose Life

Deuteronomy 30:19-20

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding close to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, so that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.

So far, along this journey, we have seen that part of the Father’s health practice is to lead us into good choices. Yesterday we saw the blessing and the curse. Now, the Father says, very plainly that is up to us to choose between the blessing and the curse. One leads to life, the other leads to death. He has given us the right to choose.

The right to choose is killing us. Yep, I said it. God loves and honors us so much that He has guarded our freewill zealously. This is good news though because God has laid life before us.  The problem is that we are not always good stewards of our freewill. What’s worse is that when we make bad choices, and things go awry some people are quick to blame God. He is making it very plain in this passage that He is giving us the choice. He called all of heaven and earth to bear witness that He has set before us life and death. Then, amusingly, He gives us this bit of advice. “Choose life,” He tells us. Wow! Clearly He was concerned that someone might not make the right choice unaided.

This passage comes right on the heels of the explanation of the blessing. The blessing is life just as Jesus is life. It is to the Old Testament what our inheritance in Jesus is in the New. I like to think of it as a double measure of the blessing working in my body and my life. You should expect good things to happen in your life because the blessing is working in you.

Let us remind ourselves, though. The blessing “shall come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey the Lord your God.” Don’t think of this obedience as a harsh task master. In real life it becomes, listening to God and doing what He says. If He tells me something about my diet or exercise and I choose not to do it, then the blessing is going to be hampered in that area. He is not punishing me for disobedience. He has pointed out the way to reap blessing. It is all on me if I don’t do it.

There is the blessing in the land but there is also the curse. God lets you choose between them. You can follow Jesus to the promises like the Israelites followed Moses or you can choose to do your own thing. You can go back to Egypt for that matter, but remember, you cannot live in Egypt and enjoy the fruit of Canaan. So, choose, which shall it be, blessing or living in the land of the curse? Choose life. Follow Jesus so closely that he cannot get a moment alone. Have breakfast with him and call him to watch over you while you sleep. Ask him to speak to you in your dreams and chat with him throughout your day. Intertwining with him is the best way I know to choose life.

Pack Your Bags

Genesis 12: 1, 4 – 5

“Go from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you.”

So Abram went away as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the people which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan.

We are still talking about getting in the game which is a metaphor for seeking God’s beautiful plan for our lives and following it. Yesterday we saw that Abraham’s (Abram) Father, Terah, began well but stopped short of God’s plan for him. It could well be that Terah was to be the Father of many nations. He headed towards Canaan but stopped in Haran. Unfortunately for Terah, the blessing was in Canaan, not Haran. He missed his boat.

In today’s passage we witness God telling Abram to pack up his family and belongings and head to Canaan. The difference between Abram and his father, Terah, is that Abram followed through.

This is actually the beginning of the blessing. Look at verses 2 and 3, “And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” It is through Abram’s execution of God’s plan that we enjoy the blessing today. All families of the earth are blessed because Abraham packed his bags and followed God’s plan for his life.

God was looking for someone to covenant with so that He could get the blessing to humanity and Abraham volunteered through obedience. Abraham is called the Father of Faith, and I don’t deny that, but it was obedience that made Abram into Abraham and brought the blessing to you and to me. It was obedience through which the covenant was able to be implemented.

Abraham understood that God had a good plan for him and he believed that God would make that promise into a fact. He believed God and followed the plan. Because of that he became the father of nations. Because he followed through on God’s plan, the entire world is blessed. I just want to remind you of Jeremiah 29: 11 to let you think about how God thinks about us and operates with us, “For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Amen!

Favor and Light

Psalm 44:3

For by their own sword they did not possess the land, and their own arm did not save them, but Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence, for You favored them.

Here is a good example of partnership with God and I hope you find it encouraging because the favor of God was sufficient weaponry to possess the land.

What land are you trying to take? Is it a new job, financial security, a big project? How about raising kids? Whatever your big goals, you don’t have to do it in the power of your might. We kind of know that but we often know it intellectually rather than experientially. I find that I can have very strong theology when we sit and chat but that in the moment of everyday happenings, my inner self does not always act out those intellectual beliefs. I may even hold to those beliefs very strongly and would argue adamantly about them but still not instinctively employ them in day to day life. This partnership with God theology is one of the largest ideals I write about. However, the practical application can be somewhat enigmatic. How do we actually allow God to be our strong right hand? How do we come to own Canaan if not by our own sword? Is our Puritan work ethic a hindrance to walking by faith or is it what makes for quality individuals? Better still, do we misuse our work ethic?

I believe in setting goals, determining what is required in order to reach them and then setting realistic activity goals. If one wants X, what will be required in order to attain X? Secondarily, am I willing to do what is required? However much I admire this approach I must recognize that it is still a worldly process. That is not to say that I recommend rejecting it, it just means that it is only the beginning of the method. The more important step is taking all of this to God, talking with Him about it and then, more importantly, listening to Him. If we seek the goals He has for us then we will start off on the right track. Second, once we have God’s vision for our future, then we should enquire of the course. What would He have us do? He will tell us our part if we listen. Then we don’t run off half-cocked making a mess of big dreams.

I want God to win the goal for me. That sounds infinitely better than toiling. God will hand Canaan into our hands if we will follow Him. Most interesting of all, today’s verse reveals that His presence was the key to obtaining the goal. We have only to walk in the shadow of His glory, follow along in the footsteps He leaves as He leads and the next thing we know will be the Promised Land.

What do you want? What do you really, really want? Is there a goal out there that is almost too big to even dream? Maybe your dream is even too big to talk about but the light of His presence can bring it to pass. This takes some meditation. Today’s verse is really poignant, and I hope you will ponder it. When we learn to walk with God such that His hand delivers the victory then all things shall be possible. Remember, the Israelites defeated a city by walking around it. God’s way is not usually our way but we can learn to hear Him and follow His direction instead of launching out in the power of our might and when we do, even those biggest of dreams will be yours!