Cause and Effect?
Cause and effect – that understanding that what we do has certain results. Actions lead to consequences.
Deuteronomy 30:9-14
9 The Lord will make you prosperous in all that you do; you will have many children and a lot of livestock, and your fields will produce abundant crops. He will be as glad to make you prosperous as he was to make your ancestors prosperous, 10 but you will have to obey him and keep all his laws that are written in this book of his teachings. You will have to turn to him with all your heart.
11 “The command that I am giving you today is not too difficult or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in the sky. You do not have to ask, ‘Who will go up and bring it down for us, so that we can hear it and obey it?’ 13 Nor is it on the other side of the ocean. You do not have to ask, ‘Who will go across the ocean and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and obey it?’ 14 No, it is here with you. You know it and can quote it, so now obey it.
Here we have a classic example of the prevailing world view that the Old Testament was written in – do good and you’ll do well; and its opposite number by definition is if something goes horribly wrong, you must have done something to cause it…
But Moses brings the challenge – to obey God’s laws and keep his demands. Not because of what we may gain – but because of who God is. We turn to God, not just by doing the right thing, but by having the right heart.
An impossible task? That we could ever be good enough, do what God requires of us?
It is a choice, a definite choice, but not an impossible one. God does not put up barriers to stop us reaching him, but does everything he can to make it possible. God’s commands are not invisible or out of reach – but here among us – and that was even before Jesus made it all the more accessible. God longs for us to know and love him. It’s not difficult – but it does demand a decision.
God invites us to come to him, to live our life in the way he desires – and what abundance we will receive in him when we do.
Lord,
Thank you that you are accessible,
not aloof,
longing to give me so much.
But I know I have a choice to make –
to follow your ways or not.
Not to make life easier,
not to receive more or better things,
but to know you,
and the depths of your love.
Pam's Perambulation 