Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders…. 

You stand assembled today, all of you, before the Lord your God – the leaders of your tribes, your elders, and your officials, all the men of Israel, your children, your women, and the aliens who are in your camp, both those who cut your wood and those who draw your water –  to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, sworn by an oath, which the Lord your God is making with you today; in order that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.  

– Deuteronomy 29:2-3 & 10-13

The Lord said to Moses, “Soon you will lie down with your ancestors. Then this people will begin to prostitute themselves to the foreign gods in their midst, the gods of the land into which they are going; they will forsake me, breaking my covenant that I have made with them. My anger will be kindled against them in that day. I will forsake them and hide my face from them; they will become easy prey, and many terrible troubles will come upon them. In that day they will say, ‘Have not these troubles come upon us because our God is not in our midst?’ On that day I will surely hide my face on account of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods. 

– Deuteronomy 31:16-18

Driving across town yesterday, I heard a gentleman on the radio referred to as Dr. Bobby encourage listeners to read Scripture daily. He suggested that each day as we prepare to study God’s holy word, we pray to hear God speak through His word, and he suggested that as we study we ponder what each passage tells us about God and people, and he suggested that after reading each passage we ask God what He wants us to do in response to His word. I pondered the thought that God tells us about Himself and about humans and humankind through His holy word, and that He expects a response as I turned to passages regarding God’s covenant with His people, their responding covenant, and their repeated failure to maintain their promises. And I ask myself, what do the passages say about God and people and me?  What is the appropriate response? How will I respond?

Scripture reveals a repeating story. God enters into covenant with His people and they promise to be His people and to behave in ways that reveal His glory on earth, and then they begin to act like all the people of the world surrounding them. So God reminds them and urges them to return to Him, and they do, before returning to their worldly ways.

Time and time again, generation after generation throughout Scripture, the story repeats itself, presenting a continuing story of God’s love for His creation and His love for people and His desire that people live their best, fullest, most fulfilled, most joyous life possible, which means living in His glory. God’s love for us and His promises to us are good, solid and trustworthy. When we enter into covenant with God, His side of the promise is never in question because He is faithful and true. But our side is not nearly as trustworthy. Our commitment fades, we forget, we get distracted and we fail to follow through, so we need to commit ourselves to our Lord and then we need to continually remind ourselves about the promises we made and continually recommit ourselves to the promises, and this is nothing new.  

As God’s people camped at Mount Sinai, God gave the Ten Commandments and the law and Moses gathered seventy elders as representatives of the people. He explained the law. They responded saying, “All the words the Lord has spoken we will do” (Exodus 24:3). After they agreed, Moses consecrated them by dashing them with blood of sacrifice, setting them apart as God’s people who would live in covenant with Him.

After living in the wilderness for forty years, God’s people came to Moab, east of the Dead Sea. Moses gathered the nation. He reminded them of the ways God had provided for them over the previous forty years. He reminded them of God’s miraculous hand delivering them from bondage, and of God’s provision of sandals, clothing, food and land, and of God’s holy law (see Deuteronomy 29:2-29). Moses urged them saying, “Therefore, diligently observe the words of this covenant, in order that you may succeed in everything that you do” (Deuteronomy 29:9).

Later, as Moses passed the torch to Joshua, he instructed priests to gather the nation every seven years and to read the law for all to hear “so that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God and to observe diligently all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 31:12). As soon as Moses finished speaking, God told Moses that they would break the covenant. They would “prostitute themselves to foreign gods” and God’s anger would burn against them and He would reveal His anger by turning His face from them (see Deuteronomy 31:16-17). God did not say He would strike them down in anger; rather, He said He would simply leave them alone and allow them to live the unfilled lives they chose.

God’s people entered the Promised Land where they encountered, were attracted to, were distracted by, and followed unholy influences. They pursued idols and other gods rather than God. In love, God sent kings and prophets and ultimately His Son so that people might live their best possible lives, which means living in communion with Him. God wants to flow His glory through us because that is our highest calling, that is our purpose, that is abundant life, but will we allow Him to do so?

We are a lot like the people described in Deuteronomy. We live in land filled with evidence of God’s holy grace, land overflowing with milk and honey, rich with abundance He provides. God blesses us, physically and spiritually, in ways and quantities we cannot quite wrap our minds around; yet we are continually enticed and distracted by unholy influences around us. So we need to intentionally set aside time to remember, to refocus, to regroup, and to return to the path leading towards God.

In 1753, John Wesley published “A Vindication of Godliness in the Greater Strictness and Spirituality of It,” a document written by Richard Alleine 90 years earlier. In August 1755, Wesley used the publication as the basis for a covenant renewal celebration which was so filled with spiritual renewal and healing that he developed the practice of celebrating covenant renewal with other worshipers each New Year’s Day in London.

The core component of the celebration is a covenant renewal prayer, which is a weighty prayer through which we completely surrender ourselves to God for His use, for His purposes, for His glory. Surrendering to God necessitates giving up our desires and plans, and allowing God to replace them with His desires and plans. It involves faith and trust and focus on God rather than the shiny things of this world currently distracting us, enticing us, capturing our focus, keeping us away from God.

Over the next several weeks, let’s focus on covenant renewal leading to a covenant renewal prayer for us to pray together. May Jesus Christ keep you and comfort you, may He shine His glory through you, may you receive His peace and rest.