I didn’t really plan to post – I haven’t felt led to post about any particular topic – but I told the Lord tonight that I wanted to write a post. He said okay, so I proceeded to ask Him what I should write. I read a verse out of Deuteronomy 30 in my Bible plan, and the Lord said, “That’s the one!”
Just so you know, I have no idea where this is going, but we’ll see 🙂
15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
(Deut. 30:15-20 NKJV)
I would like to specifically call your attention to verses 19 and 20 after you read the entire thing – this is exceptionally applicable to us.
We have been given a choice. That choice is so incredibly simple, yet so incredibly hard for many of us to make. This reminds me of the decision the Lord put in front of me in Drinking the Cup – both are very clear-cut.
We live in a world to which Jesus is about to come back – how long will we wait?
This society has degraded, and the majority of people there are have been enticed by the devil into one of two camps: 1) worldliness, in which the person is completely unsaved and living in sin; and 2) religion, in which the person thinks they’re fine but is still living in sin.
What gets me every single time is that people’s hearts have truly turned away and they are worshiping other gods – there is a curse against them.
The best part of this realization is that Jesus became that curse. He became sin when all the sins of the world were put on Him, and we now have a choice between His love, along with the sacrifice He made for us, and the curse – which He took upon Himself.
It hurts me in the deepest part of me to know that people are still walking around, being enticed by the enemy and not going to heaven should Jesus return this very moment, and I so want to let those people know who Jesus is, who they are, and how much Jesus loves them.
And on the Promised Land: Jesus has fulfilled the law, and we can now dwell in the Promised Land the Lord has given to us. The way I see it, Heaven is not the Promised Land. They were separate places in the Old Testament, and they still are.
However, the Promised Land is no longer a tract of land in the Middle East. It’s Jesus. It’s the life we can live with Jesus every day.
I feel like this has been somewhat scattered so far, but hopefully it’s meant something to you 🙂
Meanwhile, I want to walk phrase-by-phrase through verse 20 – we’ll see where this goes.
“that you may love the Lord your God”
I am only 13, but I already know one very important thing about relationships – the love isn’t one-way. If we are in an intimate relationship with the King of the universe … it’s not just Him loving us. It’s us loving Him, and that’s an amazing privilege. It’s actually a privilege to be able to love and serve the King, and we have been given it.
“that you may obey His voice”
Obeying the Lord’s voice is hard sometimes. I get lessons in it constantly, and I’ve failed many, which I’m not proud of. But what’s amazing is that this post is actually a product of the Lord speaking directly to me. In fact, I didn’t want to write this phrase-by-phrase, but He told me to. I begged Him to let me quit blogging (why, I have no idea), but He just would not let up. So I proceeded to write this phrase-by-phrase.
Also, you should know that an hour ago, what I told you about the Promised Land would’ve been new news to me. I asked about it, and He told me.
“and that you may cling to Him”
Now’s about time for a New Testament reference (which is actually a quote of the Old Testament):
7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. 9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. – Mark 10:7-9 KJV
This is true awesomeness. We are now married to Christ, and, as He said here, a man shall cleave to his wife (or split off from his parents and go to his wife). Jesus split off from His throne in Heaven and went to His Bride. Meanwhile, we are to cling to Him.
(More new stuff I didn’t know till tonight. I’m getting excited just typing this)
“for He is your life”
Another New Testament reference:
5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
(John 14:5-6 NKJV)
“and the length of your days”
It initially seems like our life and the length of our days are the same thing. In fact, that’s what I thought about five minutes ago. But they’re really not: our life is Him, living in us and working through us (see Philippians 2:13); the length of our days is the linear amount of time we have left on this earth.
I’ve been thinking about life in general today, and I felt one thing: life is not about birth and death. The beginning of my life was not a day in the summer of 2004, and the end… well, I’m eternal, and therefore, I have no end. My body is not eternal, and I have no right to determine when it will return to dust. But as for me, I’m eternal, and what we humans here on earth call death can’t change that. Birth was simply my entry into this world to do what He’s called me to do, and death will be my exit from this shell of mine and into His eternal Kingdom. It’s that simple.
Birth was not the beginning of my finite and fragile life, which will end at a point called death, which is when my heart will stop pumping blood and my diaphragm will stop forcing air in and out of my lungs. That is a worldly understanding of life, but it’s really not biblically accurate. We are eternal creatures, which, as my mom points out, means none of us are old – we’re ancient. It also means that this pilgrimage of ours (All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. -Hebrews 11:13 NASB) is a finite introduction to this world in which we get a chance to accept our Maker’s Son as a living sacrifice for our sins, and then a chance to tell others about that sacrifice before this short pilgrimage is over and we’re in Heaven (or hell, depending on what we choose for the first choice).
And that goes back to the difference between our life and the length of our days: Our life is Him working through us from the beginning of time till forever. The length of our days is our time here on earth from birth to death to do His will.
“and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”.
More awesomeness. This is basically what I was talking about earlier, when I didn’t know I was going to do a phrase-by-phrase and this writing was somewhat scattered. Galatians 3:29 says: “29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” If we’re Abraham’s seed, then we are heirs according to the promise – the promise of the Promised Land.
It’s about time for me to be wrapping this thing up. I pray it’s been a blessing for you, because I know it has been for me. God bless!
Elle's Everyday 