I keep a journal that I write in daily. Nothing fancy – just my thoughts, what’s happening in my life, or whatever happens to be on my mind at the moment.
Every once in a while, I like to go back and read it. Sometimes, I can see how far I’ve come on certain journeys. Other times, I realize I’m still stuck in places I thought I had already moved beyond. But either way, looking back has become a useful tool for helping me move forward.
In a lot of ways, Deuteronomy felt like that to me.
As I read it, I felt like I was sitting beside Moses while he looked back over everything Israel had experienced. He knew his time on earth was coming to an end. God had already told him that he would not enter the Promised Land. Yet Moses didn’t simply walk away. Instead, he spent his remaining time reminding Israel who God was, what God had done, and what they needed to remember after he was gone.
So, as I finished Deuteronomy, these are the things that stood out to me.
1. Faithfulness doesn’t end just because our time is almost up.
Moses knew his time was done. He knew he would die, and God had already told him so.
Yet Moses remained faithful to the work God had given him right up until the very end.
That really struck me.
We sometimes think of our purpose as something that belongs to a particular season of our lives. But Moses reminds me that as long as God gives us breath, there is still something He can ask us to do.
We don’t get to decide when our usefulness ends.
Moses didn’t.
2. God made sure the Israelites understood the assignment.
There really wasn’t much gray area.
God laid out some fierce and mighty blessings for obedience and some equally fierce and mighty consequences for disobedience.
That might sound harsh to modern ears, but I think there is something incredibly loving about making the choices and consequences clear.
God wasn’t playing games with them.
He told them what He expected. He told them what would happen. And then He let them choose.
Which brings me to the next thing I learned.
3. God gives us a choice.
Too often, I think people view Christianity as a giant list of things God is going to make us do.
“If I become a Christian, God will make me give this up.”
“God will make me start doing that.”
But that’s not what I see in Deuteronomy.
God gives us a choice.
He doesn’t force our hand. He doesn’t drag us into obedience kicking and screaming. Instead, He gives us the opportunity to choose Him, choose obedience, and ultimately choose to accept His unconditional love.
And maybe that’s what makes the choice so meaningful.
Love that is forced isn’t really love.
4. Moses reminded Israel where they had come from.
Throughout Deuteronomy, Moses recapped Israel’s journey out of Egypt and everything God had done for them.
And he didn’t leave out the ugly parts.
Israel had rebelled. They had complained. They had forgotten. They had messed up.
And yet God continued to provide.
Moses reminded them of God’s grace, His faithfulness, and His supernatural provision.
In other words, he was telling them, Don’t forget what God has already done.
That is something I need to remember, too.
Because sometimes when I’m staring at what’s wrong right now, I forget to look back at everything God has already carried me through.
5. God’s Word was meant to be passed down.
One of the things that really stood out to me was the importance placed on teaching God’s instructions to the next generation.
The Book of Instruction was to be read and taught regularly, including at the appointed seven-year gathering. The purpose wasn’t simply for the people who were there. It was about remembering, teaching, and making sure the next generation knew what God had done.
In a very loose comparison, it was their version of having God’s Word available to them, long before we had the Bibles we can pick up and read today.
That made me think about how easily we can take access to Scripture for granted.
We have it everywhere.
We can read it on our phones. We can listen to it in the car. We can have multiple Bibles sitting on a shelf.
But having access to God’s Word and actually passing it along are two very different things.
6. God Himself buried Moses.
This one stopped me.
When Moses died, God Himself buried him.
God took care of Moses even in death.
I don’t know about you, but there’s something incredibly intimate about that.
Moses had spent his life walking with God, talking with God, arguing with God, obeying God, and sometimes getting things spectacularly wrong.
And yet, at the end of his life, God was still there.
There is something beautiful about that relationship.
7. Moses loved God deeply and he talked to Him plainly.
Moses wasn’t perfect.
He faltered. He made mistakes. He became frustrated. He even lost his temper.
But through all of it, he never wavered in his love for God.
The relationship between Moses and God feels incredibly personal to me.
And that’s another thing I took away from Deuteronomy: we don’t have to talk to God like we’re writing a letter to a king.
No King James English required.
No Shakespearean vocabulary necessary.
We can talk to God plainly.
We can tell Him when we’re angry. When we’re afraid. When we’re confused. When we’re grateful. When we don’t understand what He’s doing.
Moses certainly wasn’t afraid to speak honestly with God.
And I think there’s something comforting about knowing that God doesn’t require us to put on a performance before we come to Him.
Final Thoughts
If I had to wrap up everything I learned from reading Deuteronomy in one verse, it would be this:
“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!”
— Deuteronomy 30:19, NLT
Moses spoke those words to the Israelites.
But when I read them, they feel like they come straight from the heart of the Father.
Choose life.
Choose God.
Choose grace.
Choose love.
Choose Jesus.
Because ultimately, that’s what I believe Deuteronomy taught me.
God has given us a choice.
And every day, in big ways and small ones, we get to decide which way we’re going to walk.
