Deuteronomy 29:1-30:20
Luke 11:37-12:7
Psalm 78:1-31
Proverbs 12:19-20
If you haven't followed Badger Basketball - ie, the NCAA men's basketball team of the University of Wisconsin - you probably don't know the name "Frank Kaminsky". He just finished his basketball career. In 2015, he was voted the college basketball national player of the year. As good as he was - and he was good again this year - his team never won the championship. As hard as he worked, as hard as the team worked, last year they made it to the Final Four; this year they made it to the championship game and, about 20 minutes ago, the Wisconsin Badgers lost to the Duke Blue Devils. And Frank is a senior who has played his entire four years of eligibility. Next year, he can no longer play college ball, even if he were to stay in school. It is safe to say that, for someone as talented and as hard working as Frank is, he hasn't gotten to where he is meant to go yet. As the sun was about to set on his collegiate career, and rise on a new life, his coach, Bo Ryan, was probably telling his star player not to forget the lessons he'd learned while on the team - lessons of hard work and practice, of teamwork and diligence and thoughtfulness and discipline. Before the game, coach probably told Frank to carry those lessons with him, in victory and in defeat, and they would serve him in good stead as he went on with his life.
Which is sort of what Moses is telling the Israelites, isn't it? In Deuteronomy, the Israelites are in the territory of Moab, and "in his final act at this important time of transferring leadership to Joshua, Moses delivered his farewell address to prepare the people for their entrance into Canaan. Moses emphasized the laws that were especially needed at such a time...." (Zondervan NIV Study Bible). Moses knows he is about to part ways with the Israelites, as they are about to embark upon a new series of trials and victories without him. And he's giving them the best advice he can, to prepare them for what they will face. And his message was simple and straightforward: Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything that you do...make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations...love the Lord your God, walk in obedience to Him, keep His commands, decrees and laws - then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess." The key here wasn't just the act of obedience - it was where that act found its roots: in a love for the Lord. In Moses's counsel, it started from the inside. Which, as Jesus pointed out in the NT reading, the Pharisees had forgotten. Their acts seemed pious, but their hearts were far from what God first wanted.
These lessons weren't just for the Israelites or the Pharisees. They are for us as well - here and now. My daughter leaves for college soon, and I hope she will hearken to Moses's words - far better than anything Polonius said to Laertes, or anything I might tell her. I pray her brothers will learn these words, these lessons as well, sooner rather than later. Then wherever it is any of them goes, whatever it is any of them does, "they will live and increase", and the Lord will bless them in whatever land He causes them to enter and possess.
No comments:
Post a Comment