Deuteronomy 30
6 Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart
and the heart of your descendants, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul, in order that you may live.
Observation:
The preceding two chapters of
Deuteronomy are filled with blessing and curse. It is often hard for us in
western culture to understand how God could make such hard statements. When we
read the curses of Deuteronomy we might feel that God is, well, mean. However,
this is not the case. John tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8).
In the Jewish thought of the Old Testament God is doing these acts,
God clarifies this in chapter 30.
When the people are obedient to the
Law, that Moses has given, the people welcome the presence of God in their camp.
When they are disobedient and serve themselves or other gods, they push God
away. When we reject God we reject all of him. There is no partial acceptance of
God. We cannot accept His presence and reject his love. We cannot accept his
blessing and at the same time reject his commands. To reject any part of God is
to reject all of God.
However, God knows that Israel is
going to turn from him v. 1-5. This is not a prophecy that has to take place.
God knows what the Israelites will do, so he foretells of their turning away. He
tells them this because he wants them to know that when the curse of their own
disobedience takes place that he will still receive them back. Nevertheless,
God’s receiving them back is always on his terms, not their own.
Coming back looks like verse 6. When
they return they must repent of their ways. The Jews must turn away from their
own selfish desires, and allow God to purify their hearts. The cutting away of
the foreskin images the purification. It is painful, but the results are a
cleansing of the heart from impurity.
Application:
For all of us who have believed on
Jesus for our salvation there has been a time when we have faltered. We have acted out of our own will and not
his. For some the sins might have seemed small. Others may see their sins as
large. Nevertheless, we have all fallen short of the Glory of God. Whether or
not we believe this is not the issue. The Lord will reveal to us our faults.
What is important is that we
understand that God is a God of love. He will never reject us, because of this
great love. This does not mean he will simply ignore our sinful behavior. Just
as he allowed Israel to wander from his protection, to their destruction, he
will also allow us to wander into our own. It is in repentance that Israel is
made holy in love. It is also in repentance that we are made holy in love.
Though Christ has died once for all,
there are times when believers wander and return in repentance. There is
probably more occasion for this than we would like to admit. However, there is
also the time of surrender. It is a time when we stop pressing our will, stop
pushing away from God’s, and allow him to circumcise our hearts. We cannot make
this happen, we must humbly return to God and confess that we need his
cleansing touch so that we are able to obey him fully.
In God’s great mercy and love, he
reaches down through his Holy Spirit and circumcises our hearts. He removes the
impure, selfish love within us, and fills us with his Holy Love. This is symbolic
of his nature vs. ours. This does not remove the ability of free will to sin.
No, rather we are once again restored in our spirit to the image of God’s love.
We are free to love others and to love God. This is the life producing agape of
God. A love that is pure and free of selfish ambition. For the rest of our life it
will be tested and strengthened, but in the end, it will be proved. Only a love
formed in and by Jesus will last.
Prayer:
No comments:
Post a Comment