The people had journeyed 40 years in the desert. Each step of the way, God led them, protected them and provided for them. He had proven His commitment to fulfill His covenant with Abraham from so long ago. Furthermore, He was fulfilling His covenant with Adam and Eve that one day a redeemer would be born. One who could break the curse of sin and death, by taking on all the sin Himself. God has displayed Himself to the people through the desert, but now it was their turn to choose Him or not. This is the plea. The same plea for you today. What more must God do for you to see Jesus IS Your Greatest Treasure? And as Moses commands the people of Israel, so must we each command our own hearts, “Choose today whom you will serve!”
High on the mountains above the encampment of Israel, Balaam and Balak are trying to get God to condemn these people. Unbeknownst to Moses and the children of Israel, there were those trying to convince God of the unworthiness of these people He had chosen. Well Moses could attest to that. After all he had seen firsthand how many times they have grumbled against God. They had built idols. Many times, they spoke against all of Gods provisions. Preferring to die in slavery rather than to go where God commanded go. A stiff-necked, selfish bunch much like you and I.
What More Must God Do?
“You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants, and to all his land. 3 The great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. 4 Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.
5 And I have led you in the wilderness for forty years. Your clothes have not worn out on you. And your sandal has not worn out on your foot. 6 You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or other strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the Lord your God. 7 When you reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle, but we defeated them. 8 And we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9 So you will keep the words of this covenant and do them, in order that you may be successful in everything that you do. Deuteronomy 29: (NASB)
God did all this and yet you have rebelled so often. Come now to covenant with God to follow Him. Do not turn away! Let no one among you seek after idols made of wood, stone and silver and gold.
A Mystery of Sorts
“The Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear”. Oh, how I wish that He would! Just as Paul would have given up his place to save the Jews of day, so had Moses pleaded that God save them and take him instead. God who has the power to do just that, in His wisdom also left man with a choice. This in no way lowers His Sovereignty.
I cannot come to Him if He did not call. Yet, I am not worthy to be called. This is the point. He chose me, just as out of all the earth He had chosen Moses. Not because of our own worthiness, but because it was His great pleasure to do so. I Do not have to understand all of how or why He did. But I must be forever grateful with all my being that He did.
29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God! But the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever. So that we may follow all the words of this Law. Deuteronomy 29 (NASB)
God CAN call you from the deadness of your spirit. There is no one too far gone, but God can reach them. No one can come unless the Spirit call them. But there is a degree of choice as well. Look again at Balaam, just over head surveying the nation as this was taking place. He had spoken with God. The Spirit revealed visions of the future to him. God sealed his mouth from cursing the nation of Israel. With all that he chose riches and selfish desires over God.
Must God Do It All for All
So, as they are standing before God, Moses tells them once more as he had before of the covenant. You have seen firsthand what happens to those who turn away from God to seek other gods. Because you have seen this lies even heavier on you. God has shown you all this that you might understand. Although God has called you out as a nation for Himself, each individual is responsible for his choice. God has shown you His wrath, His commandments and His righteousness so you know the consequences of disobedience.
moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols made of wood and stone, silver and gold, which they had with them); 18 so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.
19 And it shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will consider himself fortunate in his heart, saying, ‘I will do well though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land along with the dry.’ 20 The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and His wrath will burn against that person, and every curse that is written in this book will lie upon him, and the Lord will wipe out his name from under heaven. 21 Then the Lord will single him out for disaster from all the tribes of Israel, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant which is written in this Book of the Law. Deuteronomy 29 (NASB)
And If That Happens? What must God do?
Whenever they turn away, the curse will come upon them. Other nations will rise up and overthrow them. They will cry to God and then He will restore them. This is the recurrent story we will read throughout their history. God will fulfill His covenant. Jesus will come through the seed of Eve and through the seed of Abraham, faithfully fulling all that God has planned. But when they turn aside, what shall be said of them?
24 All the nations will say, ‘Why has the Lord done all this to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’ 25 Then people will say, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26 And they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they have not known and whom He had not assigned to them. 27 Therefore, the anger of the Lord burned against that land, to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; 28 and the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, fury, and in great wrath, and hurled them into another land, as it is this day.’ Deuteronomy 29
Yet, God is Faithful to Keep His Promises
Even after all this. If any of you will turn your hearts to Him, God will restore you and the nation.
“So it will be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have placed before you, and you call them to mind in all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you, 2 and you return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul in accordance with everything that I am commanding you today, you and your sons, 3 then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you.
4 If any of your scattered countrymen are at the ends of the earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. 5 The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will be good to you and make you more numerous than your fathers.
But what If I Fail Even Then?
That is the beauty of this covenant. If I sincerely enter into this covenant relationship with God. He will keep me to the end. He will write His laws upon my heart, step by step. That is what Jesus did for us on the cross. It is by faith alone, not of works. But faith without any semblance of works is dead because how can I not in devotion desire to do the will of Him who saved me. Love would demand I desire Him as my greatest treasure. Still this is God’s promise to all who covenant with Him.
6 “Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live. 7 And the Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8 And you will again obey the Lord, and follow all His commandments which I am commanding you today.
9 Then the Lord your God will prosper you abundantly in every work of your hand, in the children of your womb, the offspring of your cattle, and in the ]produce of your ground, for the Lord will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; 10 if you obey the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul. Deuteronomy 30 (NASB)
What If I say?
Maybe another day, it is too hard. I have things to do here, now.
11 “For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away. 12 It is not in heaven, that you could say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us, and proclaim it to us, so that we may follow it?’ 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you could say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and get it for us and proclaim it to us, so that we may follow it?’ 14 On the contrary, the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may follow it.
15 “See, I have placed before you today life and happiness, and death and adversity, 16 in that I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, so that you may live and become numerous, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to take possession of it.
The choice is Yours Today
What are you going to choose?
17 But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but allow yourself to be led astray and you worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that you will certainly perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and take possession of it. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding close to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, so that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
Final Thoughts
What more must God do in your life that you might desire Jesus as your greatest treasure.
DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD? He is our only Hope in Life and Death! Our Joy is found in Him.
Therefore if you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord: I urge you today. Go to my page titled How to Be Saved by clicking on this link. There is nothing more important than this; because He is the way, the truth and the life. Therefore, I urge you to seek Him today.
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DISCLOSURES
©Effie Darlene Barba, 2023
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. Furthermore, I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned except for my own books. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Credits
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
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