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Dire Straits

The “if” warning, as communicated through Moses, was quite straight forward: “If you
do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do
not revere this glorious and awesome name—the LORD your God…” (Deut 28:58)

The consequences, also communicated through Moses, were equally straight forward:
“Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other.
There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your
ancestors have known.” (Deut 28:64)

The repercussions, again communicated through Moses, of how the consequences would
play out in their lives were not only straight forward but dire: “ Among those nations you
will have no rest, nor will there be a place of peaceful rest for the soles of your feet, for
there the LORD will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a spirit of despair.
Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will be terrified by night and day and will
have no certainty of surviving from one day to the next.” (Deut 28:65-66 from the New
English Translation)

That same passage from The New International Version has some slightly different
wording: “ Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of
your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a
despairing heart. You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day,
never sure of your life.”

I included both translations in order to draw words from both in order to emphasize the
dire straits facing them if they disobeyed. Words like:

No rest;
Anxious hearts;
Anxious minds;
Failing eyesight;
Eyes weary with longing;
A spirit of despair;
Despairing hearts;
Constant suspense;
Life hanging in doubt;
Filled with dread;
Terrified by night and day;
Never sure of your life;
No certainty of surviving from one day to the next;

Applicable today? While perhaps not in the same way as in the time of Moses but I think
some, if not all, of those things are being experienced by people today!

And what is being experienced today reflects something that occurs at a very deep level
in our lives. It happened then and it happens now. It happens when we move from
having our needs met in God to having our needs met in other things, the “other gods”.

While we may not physically worship the other gods of wood and stone, we do tend to go
to other sources to have our needs met when those needs are actually designed to be met
in God.

At least, I can testify to that, having learned the hard way. Well, I should say, still learning the hard way!

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