(This article is an adaptation of what Moses told the people of Israel as he established the covenant between the nation and God before they were to enter the promised land. While I have adapted Moses’ words to us in our time, I have quoted verbatim God’s words at the end).
Surely we are aware of what God has done for us in our lives. During trials we are amazed at the comfort and help offered us by God. Why then do we not recognize and appreciate His help more than we do? God had given us limitations and requirements to show us we are called out of the world and are His special people. Therefore it is important for us to keep the commandments and teachings of our Lord, and in so doing we will prosper spiritually.
All of us stand today before the Lord God Almighty. This from the leaders of any congregation to the babes in Christ in the pew. Man and woman, young and old, from all races and cultures, we have been called out of the world. We should dedicate ourselves fully today to the covenant that God has made with us. In doing this He truly will be our God and we will be His people. He has promised this, and God delivers on His promises.
You know of the ungodly. We live among people who do not know God. All sorts of abominations are in our culture. There is idolatry and false religion. There is sexual immorality. There is selfishness, striving, murder, lying. All sorts of immorality and false doctrine that can influence us. It is important that there not be any men or women among us whose hearts turn away from our Lord to serve the devil in our society by choosing evil.
We must be careful not consider ourselves to be at peace while we follow the dictates of our own hearts. It would be like a drunk man trying to fit in with a group of sober people. He can fool himself, but it is evident to all that he is in fact a fool! God will not approve of such people. God’s demand that we serve Him and Him alone would cause us to anger Him, and His promise of condemnation would be visited upon us. Our names would be blotted out of the book of life.
We have examples like Sodom and Gomorrah to see God’s wrath visited upon the ungodly in the past. If we forsake our agreement to serve God we can’t expect to escape the arousal of God’s wrath toward us. Those things (commandments) which God has revealed to us literally belong to us. They should be obeyed by us, and we should teach them to our children as well.
Our obedience (and repentance if we have departed from God) will bring His compassion to us. There is no place on earth or condition we might be in where God will not gather us up and return us to His favor. If we repent! His promise to bless and save us will be renewed if we turn to Him. We are certainly blessed physically by God, and spiritually through His Son who died for us. Our emphasis must be upon keeping His commandments and statutes. That is our place – to turn to Him with all our heart and soul.
We aren’t talking about difficult things. The word of God is right before us. It is plain, not mysterious. If we want to obey Him, such obedience is possible for any and all of us. This is a matter of life and death, good and evil. The commands to keep God’s will, His statutes, is what determines whether we will stand before Him. If our heart turns away from God we will perish. But if we choose obedience we are in effect choosing life. Remember, Jesus is the way, truth and life. Eternal life is conditioned upon our obedience.
This seems so simple, and the Lord has put into place His church to equip us. We have the Bible and can read it daily. We have each other and can edify and strengthen one another. We gather together to make sure we are all on the right path. And yet…
GOD: “And the LORD said to Moses: ‘Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, “Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?” And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods. Now therefore, write down this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel. When I have brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey, of which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and filled themselves and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them; and they will provoke Me and break My covenant. Then it shall be, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify against them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten in the mouths of their descendants, for I know the inclination of their behavior today, even before I have brought them to the land of which I swore to give them’” (Deuteronomy 31:16-21).
What is the inclination of our behavior today? That is a sobering question we must ask ourselves. God has done so much for us, and desires our devotion and zeal in response. He is longsuffering and waiting for the repentance of all, but will one day destroy the ungodly. He is just. Are you pleasing Him?
