Choose Life: God’s Promise and Our Decision (Deuteronomy 30:1–20)
As the people of Israel stood on the edge of the Promised Land, Moses gave them one last message full of love, warning, and hope. He reminded them that life with God is about choices—and those choices have real consequences.
God Welcomes Us Back
Moses began by saying something very encouraging: even if the people turned away from God and were scattered to far-off places, they could always return to Him. God wouldn’t hold their past against them forever. If they turned back with all their heart, He would welcome them, gather them from wherever they had gone, and bless them again.
He even promised to change their hearts so they could love Him and live the way they were meant to. God wasn’t just offering a second chance—He was offering a new heart and a fresh start.
God’s Way Is Not Too Hard
Sometimes we might feel like living for God is too difficult or confusing. But Moses made it clear that God’s instructions are not far away or too complicated. They’re not hidden in heaven or locked away in some distant land. God’s word is near—right in our hearts and minds.
This means we don’t need to go on a long journey to find out what God wants. We already know it. We just need to choose it.
The Big Choice: Life or Death
Moses then gave the people a clear choice: life and good, or death and evil. Choosing to love and obey God would lead to life, blessings, and a future filled with hope. But turning away from Him would bring harm, loss, and sadness.
He didn’t just lay out the options—he urged them with all his heart: “Choose life!” This wasn’t just for their own good, but also for the good of their children and future generations.
What This Means for Us
Even today, this message still speaks to us. God is loving and patient. No matter how far we’ve gone, He’s always ready to welcome us back. And just like the Israelites, we also have a choice.
God’s way isn’t meant to be confusing. It’s near and clear. And the choice He hopes we’ll make is simple but powerful: choose life—choose Him.
Deuteronomy 30:1-20 (WEB)
30:1 It shall happen, when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, 2 and return to the LORD your God and obey his voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 that then the LORD your God will release you from captivity, have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. 4 If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, 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 will possess it. He will do you good, and increase your numbers more than your fathers. 6 The LORD your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. 7 The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8 You shall return and obey the LORD’s voice, and do all his commandments which I command you today. 9 The LORD your God will make you prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for good; for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers, 10 if you will obey the LORD your God’s voice, 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 with all your soul.11 For this commandment which I command you today is not too hard for you or too distant. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up for us to heaven, bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?” 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over the sea for us, bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?” 14 But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. 15 Behold, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and evil. 16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you go in to possess it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away and worship other gods, and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that you will surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you pass over the Jordan to go in to possess it. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 to love the LORD your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.