Deuteronomy 30:19: The Choice Between Life and Death

Deuteronomy 30:19.. "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live..."

Deuteronomy is one of my absolute favorite books in all of scripture. Throughout its entirety, one can see the desires of God's heart so clearly. Although we certainly cannot take a survey of the desires of God's heart in this short devotional today, we will look at one aspect of it portrayed for us in Deuteronomy 30:19 through the words of Moses.

In this wonderful verse, Moses states to the Israelite people that he has quite literally set before them life and death. What he means by this is that he has placed before them the law, that is, the way in which they can follow God. He has showed them how to walk uprightly and follow the path that God has given them. But in this giving of the law, Moses has also showed them by implication how to not follow God. By Moses "laying down the law" the Israelites were able to clearly see how they could follow God with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength, or how they could disobey the law and fail to serve him with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Thus, Abraham quite literally put before them life and death, blessing and curse. By Moses' giving and explaining of the law, he showed them how to follow God in order that they might live and be blessed, and how they might reject God in order that they may be cursed and die.

Amidst this wonderful verse, we see that God's heart desires that his people choose life.* In this text, Moses encourages the Isralite people to obey the way of the Lord rather than reject it. He encourages them to "choose life" that they might live, and to choose blessing that they might be blessed. Ultimately, we see so clearly here two things: Firstly, as already stated, God desires that we choose life. God wants us to follow his commands each and every day of our lives. He has set before us the law and the way in which we can follow him uprightly, and he desires that we go in that path. Secondly, we also find out that the choice is ours. Although God certainly does lead in his own sovereign way that is beyond our understanding, we as humans still have responsibility. No one else can choose for us whether we will obey God's commandments or not. The choice before us between life and death is our own...which will you choose?

I often use this verse when counseling people who are going through a rough time in life and are tempted to give up. The Bible always encourages us to press onward, persevere, remain content, and trust in God. These are the things which anyone can do in a trial to "choose life." I always remind the people I'm counseling to remember that God has them exactly where they want them, and that if they truly desire to learn from this situation, they must choose life, that is, choose to obey God's command to persevere until the end, not give up, and follow his commandments to stay holy. It's always hard, but its never unrewarding. God teaches us most wonderfully through the hardest times in our life, however, he will never be able to teach us unless we choose life.

So, have you chosen life or have you chosen death today? Have you unconditionally obeyed the Lord with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength to whatever he calls you to? Or have you given up? I pray that you might choose life today, in order that you might learn what the Lord has to teach you.

*Although "choosing life" in the context of abortion is certainly the right answer as well, I just want to make clear that that's not what I'm talking about here. "Choosing life" in this context speaks of choosing to obey God's commandments, not choosing to not abort one's baby (although they certainly are one in the same).