Deuteronomy 11 begins and ends with a robust call to love the Lord and obey His commands (v. 1, 32)—with v. 13 functioning as the fullest expression of this. To those who have read the first ten chapters this comes as no surprise. Loving God and keeping His commands forms the “chorus” for the song of Deuteronomy.
But chapter 11 is more than a chorus—there are many “verses” that point out the blessings that come from living this way. One verse is found in v. 8 where Moses tells them, “You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong” (ESV).
God created us to be strong! Like any parent, He desires that His children become everything they are capable of being. He made no one to be weak, underachieving, or excuse-making. When we love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our might (6:5), not only are we strong—but we are also in the best position to fulfill the second greatest command—our neighbor as ourselves. If we choose to be something less than our best, it’s much harder to do this.
But Deuteronomy 11:8 contains another “verse” for our song as it speaks of Israel going in and taking “possession of the land that you are going over to possess” (ESV). God had given Israel the land by promising that He would be with them in taking possession of it. “I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you” (Exodus 23:31). The book of Joshua shows this happening.
But notice the principle—In His grace, God would provide the opportunity, but they had to work with Him in displacing the Canaanites. Paul will say the same kind of thing in 1 Corinthians 15:10. It works the same way in our lives today. God provides us with the opportunity to take possession of His promises when we partner with him through loving obedience.
The last “verse” I want to point to is in v. 16 where Moses tells Israel to, “Take care lest your heart be deceived.” Sadly, we live in a world that is ripe with deception. There are a seemingly unlimited number of frauds, scams, and schemes that are all designed to do one thing—deceive us. After that has been accomplished, we’re ripe for whatever evil the deceivers wish to perpetrate on us.
It’s no different in the spiritual realm. Satan is the original scam artist who has been deceiving people since Eve. No one wants to be deceived by him. But there is a way to guarantee this doesn’t happen—we walk in God’s way. That’s what Moses is telling Israel here and it’s just one more reason why God’s way is the way of life.
Although there were some glorious exceptions, Israel, on the whole, chose to jettison God’s way for their own. As a result, they weren’t strong, they ended up losing their land, and they were deceived by idolatry.
There’s nothing sadder than losing your song.
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 