majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Deuteronomy 30:1-3,
"When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon
you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses
you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the
Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul
according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God
will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you
again from all the nations where he scattered you."
Moses tells the Israelites that if they choose to follow the idol
worship of the peoples around them, 29:26-28, they will suffer his
judgment and be dispersed among the nations. But that is not the end
of God's care and concern for the Israelites. He says when they have
been scattered and then return to the Lord and obey him with all their
heart and with all their soul he will then restore their fortunes.
Simply put, if they disobeyed God they would suffer his wrath. If they
returned to the Lord they would enjoy his blessing. This brings to
mind Jeremiah 18:7-10, "If at any time I announce that a nation or
kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation
I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it
the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a
nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil
in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I
had intended to do for it."
Some folk's theology will simply not allow for God to respond to the
actions of people. In their minds we live in a closed fatalistic
existence where everything has been pre-scripted by God. Else, they
say, how can God be sovereign? This is not how I read the Scriptures.
As in our passage today, and as the passage in Jeremiah clearly
indicates, our God is much bigger than that. In his great
transcendence he is able to interact with the choices he has allowed
people to make of their own free will. In doing such he has provided
an environment where people can truly choose him. This provides for
true glorification of God. We have the ability to choose to worship
and glorify our God or turn our backs on him as Adam and Eve did in
the garden.
For me, it is not simply that Scripture presents God in this way, I
want God this way. I want to know that it is my own free choice that
he has allowed me to make that has been the cause of my embrace of him
in faith! Why? Not because I am a wonderful person who has made the
wiser choice by choosing him, but because he is the wonderful Lord who
is due all my love, adoration, reverence and worship! It is all about
him and nothing about me.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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