Scripture Daily

Context No. 1739 of 4322 · Deuteronomy

Context · Reflection

Deuteronomy 31:14-18: in context

14The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, your days approach that you must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may commission him.” Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting. 15The LORD appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the Tent’s door. 16The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers. This people will rise up and play the prostitute after the strange gods of the land where they go to be among them, and will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them. 17Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Haven’t these evils come on us because our God is not among us?’ 18I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.

God tells Moses his death is near and calls him and Joshua to the Tent of Meeting to commission Joshua as successor. But God also speaks a sober foretelling: after Moses is gone, this people will forsake me, break my covenant, and turn to the gods of the land. Then my anger will be kindled, and I will hide my face from them, and many troubles will come upon them, so that they will ask, have these evils not come because our God is not among us?

The saddest line in this passage is the question God foresees the people asking: have these evils not come because our God is not among us? God knows that in the days ahead, when trouble falls, the people will feel God-forsaken, will sense his absence and wonder why he is not with them. And the tragedy is that they will have the cause backward. God does not withdraw first; the passage is clear that they will first forsake him, turn to other gods, break the covenant, and that his hiding of his face will follow their turning away. When they feel abandoned by God, it will be because they abandoned him. There is a searching truth here about how we experience the consequences of our own turning from God. When we drift from him, neglect him, give ourselves to other things, and then trouble comes and God feels distant, we are tempted to conclude that God has abandoned us, to feel ourselves the victims of his absence, and even to blame him for not being near. But often the distance we feel is one we created; we turned away first, and the sense of God's absence is the shadow of our own leaving. It is worth being honest with ourselves in such moments. When God feels far off and troubles press in, the question to ask is not only why God seems absent, but whether we have drifted from him, whether the distance we feel is the fruit of our own turning away. The people would cry that God was not among them, not seeing that they had left him. To recognize our own drift, rather than blame God's absence, is the first step back toward the God who has not really gone anywhere.

When God feels distant and troubles press in, am I quick to feel abandoned by him, even to blame his absence, or can I ask honestly whether I have drifted from him, whether the distance I feel is the shadow of my own turning away, as Israel would cry that God was not among them, not seeing that they had left him?

Sources