SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 11
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” [Matthew 7:13-14] Apparently it’s a lot easier to go away from God than it is to move toward Him. The wide and broad path is the easy one, while the small and narrow path is hard to find and to follow. And yet when you consider the final outcome, why would anyone choose the wide and broad path?
God through Moses reminds the people that He has guided them along the small and narrow path, through the wilderness, and that if they stick with Him, they will find life – a good life – at the end of the road. Yet again and again He repeats this message, accompanied with warnings. Apparently, God knows the power of distraction and destruction. God knows, through experience, how quickly people forget and turn back to the wide and broad path. Deuteronomy 11 rehearses what God has done for them, what He will do for them, and what asks of them. He clearly articulates the blessings that follow obedience, and the curses that follow disobedience. He even makes Mount Gerizim and Mouth Ebal visible symbols of the two options.
We need to be honest. We are prone to wander. We are inclined to go our own way, do our own thing. We find it easier and more delightful to drift on the Niagara River (even though it ends at the Falls) than to resist the current and go the other way, God’s way. It takes effort, discipline, determination, perseverance, to follow the Lord. It is not, and will never be, an easy path.
Either we choose the hard path of following Jesus, which involves, self-denial, cross-carrying, persecution, spiritual warfare, temptation… or we choose the easy path. Easy, but deadly. It leads to disappointment, defeat, and ultimately destruction.
Today I have a choice. Will I do the hard work of resisting temptation, loving others more than myself, taking the role of a servant, thinking about God and His will throughout the day, setting aside specific time with Him through prayer and bible-reading. Or will I do what comes naturally, easily – whatever I want, whatever I feel like, whatever feels good and right to me. It is a choice, a choice with consequences. Indecision is still a decision, drifting in the Niagara River is deciding.
PRAYER:
Lord, I choose today to love and obey and serve You, with all of my heart. Today, I choose You, life and blessing.
v. 18-20: “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
God’s word must be fixed in our hearts and minds, something that can generally be achieved only by actually taking steps to make it so. Practical steps, “writing them on the doorframes”, are imperative if we want to grow in Christ and follow God without getting distracted by the flashing lights on the wide road.
v. 26: “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse.”
Today, too, we have a blessing and a curse set before us for our obedience. The blessing is that of God’s joy being lavished upon us as we obey and are in communion with him, and the curse is the distance we put between us in order to disobey.
Do this and live. You have seen all what I have done for my children. Therefore obey my commands. Do this and live and I will look after you. I will take care of you. I will supply all your needs. Teach my way also to your children so that together you may live in my presence and truly live.
Do this and live is what God told Adam and Eve.
Do this and live is what God told the Israelites.
Do this and live is what God is telling me.
I need to respond like a Joshua – but for me and my household, we will serve the living God. I choose You Lord this day. Today God is first. Help me to live out that thought, that decision in reality – in my daily living for Jesus.
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
No turning back, no turning back.
Though I may wonder, I still will follow;
Though I may wonder, I still will follow;
Though I may wonder, I still will follow;
No turning back, no turning back.
The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
No turning back, no turning back.
Though none go with me, still I will follow;
Though none go with me, still I will follow;
Though none go with me, still I will follow;
No turning back, no turning back.
Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
Will you decide now to follow Jesus;
No turning back, no turning back.