“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses…
Oh, that you would choose life…You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life…”
Deuteronomy 30:19-20
Man was given the privilege of choice in the Garden of Eden. God could have designed perfect robots who would give perfect obedience, but relationship with us was more important to Him than a perfect world. However, instead of a mechanical relationship by force, God desired a love relationship by choice.
Moses knew the secret…choice comes from the heart. Earlier in the chapter he addressed a future time when the Israelites would experience the consequences of their choices, but if they returned to the Lord with all their hearts, God would restore them back to relationship. In fact, GOD would change their hearts so they would love him with all their heart…so they would live.
The choice before them was easy for the Israelites to understand. (v. 11-14) After all, they had recited God’s commands daily for the past forty years! To obey or not to obey was a choice between life or death, prosperity or disaster, blessings or curses. But that choice depended on whether their hearts turned to God’s way or turned away to their own way.
The same key to life has been offered to us…love and obey…do life TOGETHER with God. HIS call to that relationship sounds like this… “It’s MY call…It’s YOUR choice…for OUR life!”
Oh, that we would choose life!
