Today, I am reading and commenting on  Deuteronomy 29-31.

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Well, today’s reading ends on a sort of cliff hanger, tomorrow we will read the song which Moses composed for the Israelites that day.  I want to note that the passage here indicates that the Children of Israel entered into a covenant with God again here in a way which follows a pattern we have seen before.  The Children of Israel in today’s passage were the children of those who entered into a covenant with God at Mount Sinai.  As I read this I was reminded that at the end of the Book of Joshua, Joshua also led the Children of Israel to enter into a fresh covenant with God.  I realized that this represents an important truth.  While God bound Himself with a covenant to Abraham, He renewed that covenant with Isaac, and again with Jacob.  So, we see that pattern repeated here.  Each generation must enter into the covenant with God for themselves.  Each of us must choose for ourselves to follow God’s commands.  Which brings me to an often overlooked part of this covenant.  God made His promises not just to the Children of Israel who were before Him that day in Moab when Moses gave his farewell.  This passage says that the covenant was not just with them, but with whoever was standing there that day, even those who were not descendants of Jacob.  Not only those standing there that day, but with whoever was not with them that day.

Moses warns the people about thinking that they can publicly worship God and profess to follow His laws while secretly worshiping other gods.  We may think that we can gain the benefits of serving God by doing so publicly, while privately indulging our lusts and desires which go contrary to His law, but God will know and we will suffer the consequences of our unfaithfulness.  Yet, if we repent and turn back to God, He will gather us to Himself once more.  When we turn back to Him, He will cut those sins and desires out of our hearts so that we serve only Him.  If we repent of our sins, of our seeking after other gods, He will bind our hearts so that we love Him with all of our heart and all our soul, with all of our being.  God has set His word in our mouths and in our hearts such that we can obey Him if we so choose.  If we so choose, God will put His Spirit within us to direct our every thought.

Finally, the message which Moses gave to Joshua applies to all of us.  We should be strong and courageous because God will not leave us nor will He forsake us.  We need not fear, nor should we be dismayed.  God will be with us every step of the way on the mission which He assigns to us.  God knows that we will do what is evil in His sight, but if we listen to His word, if we regularly return to what He had written for us, His Spirit will come to us and draw us back to Him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.