Deuteronomy 30:1-10: a reflection

1It shall happen, when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, 2and return to the LORD your God and obey his voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3that then the LORD your God will release you from captivity, have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. 4If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back. 5The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you will possess it. He will do you good, and increase your numbers more than your fathers. 6The LORD your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. 7The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8You shall return and obey the LORD’s voice, and do all his commandments which I command you today. 9The LORD your God will make you prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for good; for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers, 10if you will obey the LORD your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

In this promise of restoration, God pledges not only to gather his people back after their scattering, but to do something deeper within them. The LORD your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. God promises to work within them the very love and devotion he requires; he will circumcise their hearts, changing them within, so that they can love him wholly. The love God calls for, he himself will enable, working it within their hearts.

Notice what God promises: to circumcise the heart, enabling his people to love him wholly. He does not merely command them to love him with all their heart, leaving them to produce that love themselves; he promises to circumcise their hearts, to work within them the very capacity to love him fully. The wholehearted love God requires, he himself will enable, changing the heart so that it can love him as it could not before. What God commands, he also promises to work within; the love for God he calls for, he himself will produce in the circumcised heart.

That is a great grace, for we cannot, of ourselves, love God as fully as we should, and need him to enable it. We are called to love God with all our heart; but we find our hearts unable to love him as they should, cold, divided, resistant. And we cannot, by our own effort, produce a wholehearted love for God. But God promises to circumcise the heart, to enable the very love he requires. Do not despair of loving God as you should, as though it were all up to your own effort to produce that love; God promises to circumcise the heart, working within us the capacity to love him wholly. Ask God to circumcise your heart, to enable you to love him with all your heart, rather than trying to manufacture that love by your own effort; for the wholehearted love God requires, he himself will work within the heart he circumcises, as he promised to circumcise his people's hearts to love him with all their heart and soul, that they might live.

Lord, in this promise of restoration, you pledge not only to gather your people back after their scattering, but to do something deeper within them. The LORD your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. You promise to work within them the very love and devotion you require; you will circumcise their hearts, so that they can love you wholly. The love you call for, you yourself will enable. Show me what you promise: to circumcise the heart, enabling your people to love you wholly. You do not merely command them to love you with all their heart, leaving them to produce that love themselves; you promise to work within them the very capacity to love you fully. What you command, you also promise to work within. That is a great grace, for I cannot, of myself, love you as fully as I should, and need you to enable it. I am called to love you with all my heart; but I find my heart unable to love you as it should, cold, divided, resistant. And I cannot, by my own effort, produce a wholehearted love for you. But you promise to circumcise the heart. Keep me from despairing of loving you as I should, as though it were all up to my own effort; you promise to circumcise the heart. I ask you to circumcise my heart, Lord, to enable me to love you with all my heart, rather than trying to manufacture that love by my own effort. Work within me the wholehearted love you require.