Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Do You Have What it Takes to Love God? | Torah | Deuteronomy 30:1-10

Episode Date: November 10, 2022

Have you made God promises that you can't keep? How many times have you said, "I'll never do it again"? Here's the good news: your sin doesn't surprise God. In today's episode, Patrick discusses Deuteronomy 30:1-10 and what it takes to love God. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here Passages: Deuteronomy 30:1-10 Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. The other day, my 3-year-old son told me his first lie. I'm not sure that he really understood what he was doing, so I sat down with him and tried to explain it, and I told him that we always tell the truth. The problem is that my son has a really sensitive conscience, which means that he wants to do most things right.

He wants to do what's best. And that means that when we have conversations like this, he can get dejected really quickly. He'll start crying, not because he's sad that he got caught doing something wrong, but because he feels a deep sense of shame. And of course, that's not what I want, but it's hard as a parent to navigate, helping your kids understand what's right and wrong without inducing some of those feelings sometimes. Anyway, through his tears, he's crying on my lap. He looks up at me, and he says, Daddy, I'll never lie again. I'm sorry. It was sweet. And of course, for his sake, I want that to be true, but I know it won't be. I know he'll lie to me again, and it'll probably be

about something far worse than sneaking a piece of candy, covering himself with chocolate, and then denying it after the fact. As he said that, I couldn't help but see myself in my own relationship with God. How many times have I been in the pits of shame and guilt and promised God, I'll never do it again? Of course, God wants that to be true as much as I want that to be true from my son, and yet he knows that I'm a recovering evildoer who lapses back into destructive habits, decisions, and behaviors. So I wonder what he thinks when I say those kinds of things to him. Maybe he's thinking, I know you mean it, Patrick, but I know you'll do it again. I don't say this to make you hopeless. I say it because I'm convinced I'm not alone. We've all made promises to God we can't keep,

and we've all had to wrestle with the consequences of our foolish action, which takes me to Deuteronomy, because this is a major theme in the book. The people renew their covenant with God, and they make commitments and promises in Deuteronomy to uphold God's law with integrity. But in Deuteronomy 30, we see that God knows the truth. Israel won't follow through. And as a result, they would experience the consequences of their ongoing generational idolatry. In Deuteronomy 29, the ultimate consequence for idolatry is laid out, its exile. If Israel continues to worship their idols, give themselves over to sexual immorality, if they continue to hurt and abuse one another and the weak and the poor, if they continue to lie and steal and

dishonor their parents and God's own law, what God says that the land I've given to you, that land will vomit you up. You see, the land was supposed to be a reboot of Eden. But in Deuteronomy 30, we see that God knows the truth. Israel will eat the forbidden fruit. And just like Adam and Eve, were exiled east of Eden, God would exile the people of Israel. He would send them eastward into a foreign land where they would have to live as exiles. I say God knew this because of how Deuteronomy 30 opens up. God doesn't say, if you do these things, then exile will happen. God says, when these things happen. Just like my son lying to me and promising that he would never do it again, God knew that his children Israel were making promises they couldn't keep. And so when that

happened, they would be scattered and sent into exile. And when that happens, he told them what to do next. Deuteronomy 31, when all these blessings and curses I have set before you, come on you, and you take them to heart wherever Yahweh your God disperses you among the nations. And when you and your children turn to Yahweh your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul, according to everything I command you today, then Yahweh your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he's scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there, Yahweh your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that

belong to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors. You see, here's the shocking good news, Israel's sin doesn't surprise God. And while it has terrible consequences, it's not the end of the story. When those consequences came, God wouldn't give up. God would write another chapter in his story with Israel. He would gather up his prodigal children and bring them back to his home. He'd put a ring on their fingers. He'd kill the fat and calf, and he'd throw a party to end all parties because his child was back. But God doesn't stop there. Verse 6. Yahweh your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants so that you may

love him with all your heart and with all your soul and live. This little verse hyperlinks to earlier parts of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 10, Moses tells the people to circumcise their own hearts. It's a graphic metaphor. He's saying, cut away everything that inhibits your full obedience to God. But this passage also hyperlinks to Deuteronomy 6, one of the most important passages in the whole Old Testament. In it, Moses summarizes the law in Israel's own calling. This is what he says. Here, O Israel, Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one. You shall love, Yahweh, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. That was Israel's calling. That was what Israel promised to God. They said, we promised, Dad, we will love you. We'll never repeat our idolatry with a golden

calf again. We'll never, ever do it again. but they do it again. They can't do the thing Moses calls them to do, which is what makes Deuteronomy 30, verse 6, so profound, because now God is promising to do for them what they couldn't do for themselves. Let's read it one more time. Yahweh, your God, will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants so that you will be able to love him with all your heart and with all your soul and live. God says that he will not only forgive the people for their transgressions, but he'll also change them from the inside out. Yes, they weren't able to circumcise their hearts the way Moses told them to. Yes, they weren't able to love God with everything they had. And so what did

God do? He said, I'll circumcise your heart for you. I'll make it so that you can love me with your whole soul and might. This is the promise of a new covenant, which only comes to fruition in Jesus. By for our sins, he not only defeated sin and won our forgiveness, he also secured the gift of God's spirit, which transforms us from the inside out, such that we can actually grow in obedience over time. The love of God in Christ is the way God undoes Israel's hard-heartedness and wins Israel back to himself. That's the promise we live in. Not that we're perfect, but that through Jesus, we can be changed. Through Jesus' gift, we can grow in a obedience. And even though we fail, God says, I will never fail you. I will never fail to transform you,

to forgive you, and to love you. And that takes me back to my son, as he was sitting on my lap crying, promising that he would never lie again. I knew he would do it again. But I also knew that what he needed wasn't to pull himself up by his bootstraps and figure out how to do this thing on his own. What he needed in that moment was my love. So I took his face in my hands. And I said to him, you're my son. I love you. I'm proud of you. That will never change.

Even if you lie. I will always forgive you. I will always love you no matter what. And with God, you really do have what it takes. The tears almost immediately stopped, and we hugged for a long time. Do you know that your heavenly father takes you up into his arms every time you fail and repent? He tells you that you are his son. You are his daughter and he loves you and he forgives you.

And that's not contingent on what you've done. It's contingent on what Jesus did on your behalf. And that's because he loves you and he's transforming you with his spirit. And because he loves you, you have what it takes. Not to be perfect, but to take the next step forward. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that's going to help you beat that midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus.

Thanks for listening.