Monday, March 9

Scripture: See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. (Deuteronomy 30:15).

Observation: Moses is “landing the plane” of his last speech to Israel. Soon enough, Moses will climb to the summit of Mt. Nebo and take one final look at the vista of Israel’s future territory on both sides of the Jordan River, then he’ll draw his last breath at the ripe old age of 120 years old. Having repeated the entire law for a second time in the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses begins to draw his speech to a close. He adds this sentence as a summary of everything he has said thus far: “I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.” For Moses, the entirety of the law is the obligatory fine print at the bottom of a fundamental daily choice: choose life, or choose death. The people of God must make the daily decision to choose a life that yields greater life and prosperity with every little thought and deed, as opposed to choosing a life that leads to greater death and adversity as a result of our thoughts and deeds. The law, then, is the intricacies of what happens when you choose life and prosperity. The first and most important decision before Israel is not minding every little detail of the law; it’s submitting oneself entirely to God’s cause of greater life and prosperity, and once a person makes themself useful to God’s cause, then the intricacies of the law should naturally follow. Life or death- which shall Israel choose when Moses is gone?

Application: It sounds so simple: choose life and prosperity, or choose death and adversity. Why would anyone choose death and adversity? The choice is so absurd, it’s hard to imagine anyone making it. But a quick reality check is enough reminder that death and adversity is the usual choice of a human being. We are surrounded by death and adversity, much of it the result of the choices of others, though some of it can be traced back to me and me alone. The thesis statement at the end of Deuteronomy – “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity” – contains a silent ongoing challenge: rather than ask, “Why is there so much death and adversity?”, I must ask, “Why am I not choosing life and prosperity?” I could easily and fairly ask why there is so much suffering in the world in the positive sense of, why does it exist?; but I hear Moses challenging me to ask myself the same question but in the negative sense of, why doesn’t more life and prosperity exist? And where am I complicit? And what should I be doing about it?

Prayer:

It’s all too much, sometimes. You heard me: it’s too much. I am overwhelmed by the daily tsunami of anti-gospel, the nightmarish news of starving children and bombs dropped, fury slung at political opponents, an unnecessary argument quickly escalated to an unnecessary funeral, jobs lost and bills unpaid, self-enriching glamor taking up the collective brain space that could be occupied by other-benefiting compassion; I said what I said: it’s too much, and in my weakness and occasionally in the strength of my vulnerability I wonder where You are and if You listen and why You are not busier at making the world more whole. But underneath the bad news of death and adversity is the good news of Your righteous challenge: why must be there be less life and prosperity at human hands, less love and kindness, less peace-making and mercy-giving, less food shared and roofs built, less creativity and courage in managing conflict, less togetherness? It need not be that life and prosperity should shrink on earth, and where it does shrink, it need not be that the shrinking should continue, and where it does continue, it need not be that I should be complicit. This moment – I said what I said, this moment – grant me the courage, diligence, and Christ-like mindset of one who will not settle for less than the current volume of life and prosperity on earth, one who will push the boulder of love uphill for as long as it takes, one who refuses to be part of the gloom Jesus came to overcome. Onward we go: amen.