Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Standing on the banks of the Jordan River, about to cross into Canaan and three years of warfare, the fledgling nation of Isreal listened to the final address of Moses. In Deuteronomy 10, one of the old man’s points was that God could have chosen anybody. The whole world was his, after all. He literally had every option open to him.
God chose Abraham, though. God set him apart and lavished his love on the man. Then God chose Abraham’s descendants and blessed them. God revealed himself to this holy line, while leaving the other nations in relative (though not total) darkness.
They might have been tempted to hear that and stick out their chests a little. God chose us, not them. And why wouldn’t he? We are pretty cool, after all.
But Moses shut down that line of thinking. He let them know, emphatically, that they were not in this privileged position because they were more righteous than the rest. Rather, they had been obstinate the whole time Moses knew them. So much so, in fact, God would have destroyed them all if Moses had not begged for their lives during 40 days of prayer.
They weren’t the best people. They weren’t the strongest; the noblest; the wealthiest; or cleverest. They were kind of the opposite of all that, if we’re being honest. They were a band of escaped slaves with no experience in war or statecraft.
If they had their heads screwed on straight, this surprising choice by God, to love them “for no good reason” should have made them wonder. It should have made them extremely thankful, baffled at how they had been so fortunate.
What should they do about it, though? Now that they recognize the hilarious generosity of God in their favor, what should they do? How should they respond?
Deuteronomy 10:16 was the answer: “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.”
We might sum up the symbolism involved here as stop being the way you’ve been. In theological terms, we call that repentance, a turning away from sin while turning to the Lord in faith.
Realizing the gracious decision of God in your life, to pour his favor on you, should loosen your grip on the reins of control. God has chosen to bless me in Jesus, in spite of what I am. Maybe, in response to that undeserved love, I should love God back and yield to his will. I should stop demanding my own way and choose his way instead.
Circumcision to the Jews was an indelible mark left in the flesh that had the function of proving God’s ownership, like the brand on a cow proves whose cow it is.
Circumcision of the heart should be the same: the mark of the Lord’s true ownership of the individual. I am his, and the proof is that I have separated myself from the old life, the old flesh, and am now walking in newness, as a grateful recipient of the love of Christ.
The transformed life is the mark of a real, spiritual work on my behalf.
Gordan Runyan is pastor of Tucumcari’s Immanuel Baptist Church and author of “Radical Moses: The Amazing Civil Freedom Built into Ancient Israel.” Contact him at: