Wednesday after the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 6, 2021 by under
Scripture: Deuteronomy 30:11-20 (NKJV)
30:11 “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
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.”
Devotion
The harsh reality is that death is the way of sin. The Lord gives life, and even life eternal. These two ways are so dramatically opposed to one another that there is no reconciling them. Sin brings death, but the Lord brings life. When we engage in active sin, we get for ourselves the consequence of sin. Sin brings death.
Those who make up the Church are simultaneously justified and yet still sinful. If we run in the ways of our old Adam and give into sinful temptation, we will inherit death. The Lord Jesus Christ came to give life. We have before us the way of the Lord—which is found in sinners being made new by faith—or the way of the old Adam and sin.
Moses tells the people of Israel that this separation is not a mystery. It is not hidden why sin and salvation cannot exist together. Therefore, we must cry out to our merciful Savior that He would make us new, send the Holy Ghost, and keep us steadfast in His Word, that we may not choose the path of death.
Prayer: O God, forasmuch as without Thee we are not able to please Thee: Mercifully grant, that Thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
