Daily Worship

Bible readings and resources for your time with God

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This passage differentiates between the Old Covenant, the one made with Moses and the Israelites as they escaped Egypt and wandered the desert, and the New Covenant, the one made when God sent his only son, Jesus, into the world to be our savior.

The Old Covenant was written on stone tablets known as the Ten Commandments that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai. It was based on tabernacle sacrifices and was sealed with the blood of animals. Because it was impossible for these sacrifices to take away sin and absolve the people, the sacrifices were offered annually as a reminder of their sins. This covenant kept God’s people at a distance.

God knew that his people needed a different covenant, and this New Covenant is not only for the Jews, but also for the entire human race. It invites us to draw near to the throne of God through the blood of Jesus to receive grace and mercy. It gives us an intimate, personal relationship with God and we get his complete and absolute forgiveness of our sins.

The New Covenant is a better covenant established on better promises and is based on the certainty of God’s Word. It writes God’s laws in our minds and on our hearts. This changes our feelings towards God’s Word. Before, the Bible was a burden, a list of dos and don’ts, and we were often indifferent to it. Now, because of our love for God, it is a joy and delight to keep the laws and read his Word. God also gave us the Holy Spirit to reinforce the laws on our hearts and minds and it helps us obey them from our hearts.

The New Covenant also seals a faithful, unbreakable, and forever relationship between God and his people. God is ours personally. We are his in a very special sense and we have a deep, intimate relationship with him. He bought us with the blood of his son so that we are not our own. We belong to him. There is nothing that can break our relationship with him. Anyone who asks can have their sins forgiven and God does not remember them again. God forgives us unconditionally and we are really, truly free. This enables us to trust God by faith and follow him with a glad heart.

PRAYER

God, you are simply amazing. You gave us this New Covenant so that we could leave the burden of the law behind us and could move on living our lives in the glorious freedom we have as heirs because of what Jesus did for us. Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to guide us and help us obey you with our hearts and minds. Your encouragement to strive against sin is with us every moment of every day. Please continue to remind us how you want us to live and help us to be thankful for what you have done for us. All glory and praise are yours, Lord Jesus. Amen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

KIM STARR

I have been a member of UALC since I was 2-years-old. Over my life I have participated in, and volunteered for, numerous ministries, programs, and activities, all of which have grown and strengthened my faith. I have been blessed beyond measure by not only being a part of this congregation, but also by being able to worship with three generations of my family.

November 18 | Deuteronomy 30:1-10

Pastor Dave Mann
Nov 18, 2024

DAILY READING

Deuteronomy 30:1-10

REFLECTION

How Is This Possible?

By Pr. Dave Mann

God has chosen his people – the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all people whom the Holy Spirit has awakened with the desire to trust in Jesus. The purpose of this choosing is to prepare a holy people with whom God will dwell forever. Sounds good to me. Count me in!

However, according to the Old Covenant received through Moses, there are conditions to being the people of God. Deuteronomy 30 lists those conditions.

v. 1 -- take to heart the blessings and curses of God

v. 2 -- you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today

v. 6 -- love him with all your heart and with all your soul

v. 7 -- obey the Lord and follow all his commands

v. 10 -- if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees

v. 10 -- turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul

Obey all his commands? With all my heart? With all my soul? Is this even possible? I know myself all too well. I don’t measure up. I need help ... I want help ... Where can I get help?

Augustine, who lived in North Africa in the late 4th and early 5th centuries, also knew he needed help. He wrote, “Give what you command [O Lord], and then command whatever you will.” Augustine recognized that his heart required God’s help to obey.

Here are other Scriptures that give us hope of arriving at the conditions of the Old Covenant through the provisions of the New Covenant, with God’s help.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 -- In the New Covenant, God will give us a new heart.
Philippians 1:6 -- being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 2:13 -- It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
1 John 3:2 -- Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Aren’t you glad that God provides what he commands?