Tuesday 16th September
Read Deuteronomy 30:11-14
“Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so that we may obey it?’ 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so that we may obey it?’ 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so that you may obey it.” (NIVUK)
Standing on the edge of the promised land Moses lays out the challenge for God’s people. Obedience is needed for blessing to follow. Obedience is not impossible as many have characterised it in the past. It is intimately possible. The word is repeatable externally (‘in your mouth’) and accessible internally (‘in your heart’). It is almost a perfect description of the psalmists’ exhortation to meditate on the law of the Lord. Obedience follows from simply sitting and meditating on God’s words. How much time do you spend each day doing just that?
