Deuteronomy 30-31 | Drifting From God

It is so easy to wander from God. We live in a land of many idols. If we are not careful, the world and its ideas, the devil, and his temptations will lure us away from God. “Prone to wander,” the hymnist said, “Lord, I feel it.”

COMING BACK

The Lord knows this, of course, for He “understands our frame that we are but dust” and has provided ways to help us when we drift. One of God’s last earthly encounters with Moses speaks of this probability and what should be done.

DEUTERONOMY 30

1 “So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the Lord your God has banished you,

2 and you return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons,

3 then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you.

4 “If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back.

5 “The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it, and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.

6 “Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.

The phrase in verse one, “you call them to mind,” is descriptive in the original Hebrew language. It literally means they should “cause (God’s Word) to return to your heart.” We think of a cerebral response when we read it as translated. But the reality of the Hebrew language is deeper. We are to do that which causes God’s words to return to our hearts.

I have a dear friend I am praying for fervently right now. He has wandered from God and is making foolish decisions that are not only disastrous to his life but the life of his family. This statement gives fuel to my prayers this morning.

“Lord, cause Your words to return to his heart. Let Your words not only come to his mind but lead them through the maze of his foolish thinking and bring them to bear on his heart, his affections, and his will. And, if he is truly not saved, do what You promised in verse 6: circumcise his heart so that he will love the Lord with all his heart and soul so that he may live.”

I believe this reference to circumcising a man’s heart speaks of the salvation that changes a man from the inside out. We do not need a mere reform, but a cutting away of the old man and the invasion of God’s Spirit within that would lead us to become a new man with a new love for God that flows from an internal spring. And God promises that if we will return in love to Him, He will return in power to us. “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you,” James said.

I’m praying this for my friend. Would you join me in this prayer for him, and others you may know, right now? Perhaps it needs to be a prayer for your own wandering heart.