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Ring of Truth provides 366 daily ‘proofs’ that the Bible is consistent throughout from Genesis to Revelation, and relevant for our lives today!
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Deuteronomy 30:19-20
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life, and He will give you many years in the land He swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Take time out to read the whole of both Deuteronomy 28 and 30 if you can, because they reveal the heart of God in a very special way.
I was going to write on “All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God ...” (Deuteronomy 28:2) but I decided to use this verse instead.
However, Deuteronomy 28 is the introduction. God explains there that if we follow and serve Him alone, we will be blessed in every area of our lives and He will protect us from evil. He then enumerates the curses that follow disobedience.
In Chapter 30, He reveals that even if the people (we) wander off and ignore Him and thus experience the curses, if they (we) return with all their (our) heart and soul and start to follow Him again, then the blessings will be theirs (ours) once more. It is as natural to live in blessing through following God’s principles as it is to live under curses by turning our backs on Him. They are both the ‘natural’ results of our lifestyle choice.
Yes, this is the heart of God - the eternal unchanging heart of God - that we should live in blessing. It’s a ‘Ring of Truth’! God does not want us to live under the curses - He wants us to live in blessing. If you think about it, it must be very hard for God to understand why people turn away from living in blessing.
But please notice it is a choice. God says, “I have set before you life and death ... Now choose life ...” He actually invokes heaven and earth as witnesses. This is serious stuff.
If I have learnt one thing over all my years of ministry and counselling, it’s this - Satan complicates life. Deliberate disobedience to God does not bring blessing but curses. The enemy is constantly painting good as evil or boring and evil as good and exciting - thus deceiving the people.
But in the final analysis, it is a personal choice. I am not a victim, I am a chooser. I do not drift into sin. I choose to be my own boss. I choose not to say, “No.” I choose not to go against the tide. I choose to submit to peer pressure. I choose the people I will associate with, copy and follow, rather than Jesus.
There are no excuses because heaven and earth are the eternal witnesses that declare the Glory of God and reveal His handiwork. Every human being knows that each child is a miracle; none of us can produce a flower, a tree, a bird, a fish or an animal. They don’t just happen. There always needs to be that miraculous something called ‘life’. And only God gives life.
How do I know - well I notice all around me - people die. Yes, people die but life goes on. How? Because God is the initiator and sustainer of all life.
To God, living is actually a life of obedience and blessing. All the rest is death. Therefore, choose life.
(Do you remember I suggested you look at the various lists of the sons of Jacob? Well, you can do that and read some interesting prophecies in Deuteronomy 33.)
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