With Joyfulness and Gladness of Heart: Deuteronomy 28.47-48
{Preached at Heritage Presbyterian Church 3 August 2014. Listen here}
In my
morning devotional reading a few weeks back, I was reading through Deuteronomy
28. It is the portion of God’s story where he tells his people that there are
rich blessings awaiting them as they will faithfully obey the voice of YHWH
their God and are careful to do what he tells them (“if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to
do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set
you high above all the nations of the earth”28.1). But that there are also
adverse circumstances – curses – lurking around the corner if they chose to
turn their back to him and follow their own way (“if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do
all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these
curses shall come upon you and overtake you”28.15).
It was here,
in this segment on the curses, when the following two verses popped out of the
page and slapped me:
47Because you did not serve the LORD
your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all
things, 48therefore you
shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and
thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on
your neck until he has destroyed you.
I realize
that at this point you are likely to tune out and turn off. It sounds so gloomily
negative, and creepily burdensome. But before you hit the off-button, or click
to another channel, take a moment to reflect with me on the positive point
pumping through these verses.
We need to see
that what God wants is a joyfulness and gladness of heart in our life as
Christians. It’s fairly simple, but easily missed. The God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob is not seeking a soul-wearying obedience that just guts it out.
“Because of the abundance of everything” he has poured out on us – things that
we are not entitled to, nor deserve – he wants us to be happily grateful and
joyfully thankful.
Most parents
I know don’t want a slavish compliance from their kids. They set down house
rules and family standards for the health, wellbeing and success of everyone
involved. The conflicts often come when kids and teens either outright resist
and counter those rules, or sullenly and grumpily comply. Parents are
consternated because those simple directions are for everyone’s benefit and
continued health. In fact, several specific “regulations” are in place because
of “the abundance of all things.” The parents are perplexed and aggravated
since they don’t understand why their kids can’t see the value and profit of
these liberty-shaped, prosperity-enhancing, health-boosting codes. “Why, it’s
as plain as the nose on your face” And the kids are bent out of shape because
they often feel that these parental-procedures are nonsensical and offensively
oppressive. “Why should I clean my room? Come on! That pile of clothes in the
corner, rumbled bed-sheets on my bed, and overflowing trashcan with candy
wrappers should be someone else’s responsibility! I’m too busy playing my video
game-reading my book-watching my music video-texting my friends! Sheesh!” I’ve
been on both sides of this tiff, as I suspect many of you have. When I look
back on myself as a kid and as a teen, I blush dark red.
You get the
picture. That is what is going on in these verses. “Obedience” is actually
enjoying God’s redemptive liberation, living out his health-sustaining
emancipation, swimming in the bounty of his love-rich “code of conduct” – serving “the LORD your God with joyfulness
and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things.” To see this,
observe that the Ten Commandments don’t begin with laws, but a rehearsal of
God’s redemptive work, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land
of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exodus 20.1 and Deuteronomy 5.6). In
essence God is saying something like: “I am the God who has emancipated you,
set you free from a bondage you were powerless over and helpless under. So, now
that I’ve set you free, here are the ten aspects of how freed people live!” And
so, rightly (“It’s as plain as the nose on your face!”), YHWH points out that
our attitude should be plush with joy and gladness - serving “the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart,
because of the abundance of all things.”
But verse 48
subtly points out that the lack of gratitude in walking with God and enjoying
his liberation comes from bowing down to other gods. Joylessness and
ungratefulness in our Christian walk have more to do with idolatry than
incidents! Joylessness has less to do with our circumstance, and more to do with
our reverence. We are joyless in God’s lavish love, because – like when many of
us were adolescents – we’re so absorbed in in our own pleasures and pursuits
(actually, overly absorbed in ourselves) that we can’t stand any interruptions
to our self-worship. We may want God’s liberty, but we don’t want his logic
that goes with it. And so God promises that if we will not enjoy his liberty
because of our own self-interest, self-adoration, self-seeking, then we will be
given what we seek – our enslavement, with all of its impoverishment.
I know that
all of this sounds, at first, rather harsh. But if you’ve ever raised children,
or ever had to deal with someone chemically addicted, or living a
self-destructive lifestyle, you know that the time comes when you may just have
to allow them to crash and burn. And it breaks your heart! And there are
plentiful times that God’s own heart is “broken” over his children, “…how I
have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over
their eyes that go whoring after their idols” (Ezekiel 6.9).
The point is
clear: God wants the positive side of all this, not the negative! He wants us
to be filled with joy and gladness in our walk with him, “for the abundance of
everything” – for the abundance of his providential care, the abundance of his
lavish love, the abundance of his redemptive-liberating work in Jesus Christ,
etc. And he delivers that joy, if we will but turn our backs to our self-idol
and seek him as he is found in Christ.
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and
drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans
14.17).
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope”
(Romans 15.13).
“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and
to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to
the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty,
dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen” (Jude
24-25).
It would be
quite fitting at this point for us to ask ourselves, am I serving “the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart,
because of the abundance of all things.”
Mike
(Feel free
to re-post or re-publish as you see fit. But as always, please give credit
where credit is due. Mike)
Updated 28
May 2014 – MWP.
Audio File added 4 August 2014 - MWP.
Audio File added 4 August 2014 - MWP.
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