Choose Life

Two paths lie in front of you. One leads to life. The other leads away from it. An old man stands before a whole nation, and with his last strength he begs them. Choose life.

It is nearly the end of Moses' long journey. He is a hundred and twenty years old. For forty years he has led the people of Israel through the wilderness, and now they are camped on the plains of Moab, with the river Jordan in front of them and the promised land beyond. Moses knows he will not cross over. Soon Joshua will lead them. Moses has spent days reminding them of everything God has done and everything God has asked. Now he comes to the end of his great speech. Everyone is listening. Parents and children, leaders and foreigners living among them. And Moses makes it simple.

What I am commanding you today, Moses says, is not too hard for you. It is not far away. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to say: who will climb up to heaven, bring it down to us, and explain it, so we can obey it? And it is not across the sea, so that you have to say: who will sail across the sea to fetch it for us? No. The word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. You don't have to be a hero or a scholar to know what God wants. He has already told you. You know it. You can say it. The question is whether you will live it.

Then Moses spreads out the choice before them. See, he says. Today I set before you life and good, and death and evil. Here is the way of life. Love the LORD your God. Walk in his ways. Keep his commands. Then you will live and grow into a great people, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are going in to possess. But if your heart turns away, and you will not listen, and you are drawn away to bow down to other gods, then I tell you today, you will surely perish. You will not live long in the land across the Jordan. Moses does not soften it. He loves them too much to pretend the choice does not matter.

And then he calls on witnesses. Not people. The sky above them and the ground beneath their feet. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, he says, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, so that you and your children may live. Love the LORD your God. Listen to his voice. Hold fast to him. For he is your life, and the length of your days, so that you may live in the land the LORD promised to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. Can you picture Moses saying it, with tears in his eyes? Not, obey because I said so. But, choose life. Choose him. He is your life.

Historians have noticed that Deuteronomy has features in common with treaties between kings in the ancient Near East. Those treaties often listed blessings for keeping the agreement and curses for breaking it, and they called on witnesses, usually a long list of gods. In Deuteronomy, there is only one God. So Moses calls on heaven and earth themselves to stand as witnesses to the covenant.

Choose life. You'll find these words in Deuteronomy chapter thirty, verses eleven to twenty. God's word is near, in your mouth and in your heart, and the way of life is to love him and hold on to him. Centuries later, the apostle Paul quoted these very words about the word being near. So here is a question to carry with you. What is one choice you could make this week that chooses life?