Start with Scripture:
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OBSERVE:
Moses addresses the people of Israel with the “Second Law” (the literal meaning of Deuteronomy). This law is a copy of the original law delivered decades earlier at Sinai, with some augmentations.
We are reminded that the people of Israel have been a nomadic nation for forty years in the Wilderness of Sinai after they were delivered from slavery in Egypt. Now, they have fought their way through hostile nations to the east bank of the Jordan River, in the shadow of Mount Pisgah. They are on the eve of entering into the promised land of Canaan.
The term “Deuteronomic Theology” is relevant to our lectionary passage. Part of this theological understanding is that Israel has been chosen by Yahweh as his covenant people. This covenant means that Yahweh will be their God, and they will be his people, and will keep his law and commandments. Another aspect of this Deuteronomic Theology is the notion that if Israel faithfully obeys the law, they will be blessed; if they don’t, they will be cursed.
There is a polarizing, binary set of alternatives that are presented to Israel:
Behold, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and evil.
The choice for life and prosperity requires this:
to love Yahweh 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 Yahweh your God may bless you in the land where you go in to possess it.
There are a series of interconnecting steps in this process toward blessing:
- Love Yahweh.
- How are they to love Yahweh? walk in his ways.
- How are they to walk in his ways? Obey his law.
- What will result? Life, fertility, land and blessing.
On the other hand, if their heart turns away from loving Yahweh and walking in his ways, it seems presupposed that they will be worshiping something — and that something will be other gods. The result will be the reverse of all the blessings that are promised — they will perish and their days will be short.
Moses is invoking heaven and earth as witnesses to this solemn covenant. Heaven and earth signifies the complete realm of creation, visible and invisible, spiritual and material. Moses implores his people:
Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants; to love Yahweh 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 Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
This covenant, and the possession of the land of Canaan, is the fulfillment of the ancient promises that Yahweh had originally made to Abraham some 600 years earlier (Genesis 12:7).
APPLY:
God’s covenant with his people is peculiar. God is almighty, and holds all the cards. Human beings, and our very existence, are contingent upon God’s favor and mercy.
God owes us nothing; we owe God everything. And yet, God condescends to make covenants with human beings, and makes promises that if we are faithful and obedient to him, we will be blessed.
And if we are disobedient to God, we will suffer the consequences. Again, I think that this is not because God is a capricious, punitive dictator. Rather, we are blessed — or cursed — because God knows what is best for us.
If we love God, and we choose to walk in his ways, our lifestyle conforms to what we might call God’s “best practices” for our lives. Chances are very good that if our lifestyle is “Biblical,” we will be faithful in our relationships, honest, healthy, and good stewards of our resources.
Conversely, a life that resists God’s laws and commandments is far more likely to experience unfaithfulness in relationships, the fruits of dishonesty, and other serious consequences.
A life that is devoted to loving God, walking with God, and obeying his commandments is more likely be more fulfilled and at peace, internally and externally.
RESPOND:
One of the prayers from my own tradition is known as John Wesley’s Covenant Prayer. This prayer is especially precious to me, and I repeat it often.
It is a reminder to me that God is holy, transcendent and has absolute power, and that I am a sinner saved by grace, and that my very existence is contingent upon him. So, in this prayer, I surrender completely to God, with the confidence that God loves me and cares for me.
This relationship between God and ourselves is at the heart of the concept of covenant. I can think of no more appropriate closing prayer than Wesley’s prayer:
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.PHOTOS:
“John Wesley’s Covenant Prayer”
SOAR Lectionary Bible Study 