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not beyond our reach

Deuteronomy 30:11-14 (JDV)

Deuteronomy 30:11 “You see, this command that I command you today is certainly not too extraordinary or beyond your reach.
Deuteronomy 30:12 It is not in the sky so that you have to ask, ‘Who will go up to the sky, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?’
Deuteronomy 30:13 And it is not across the sea so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?’
Deuteronomy 30:14 But the message is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may follow it.

not beyond our reach

As a modern evangelical, this text is one of the hardest to believe. I am so conditioned to think that the Mosaic covenant was so astronomically complex that the Israelites were doomed to break it from the beginning. Indeed, Deuteronomy assumes that as a nation, Israel would shatter the covenant they were receiving, just as Moses would shatter the first tablets of stone.

But the Israelites did not fail God because he had made obedience too hard. In fact, this passage implies that something deep inside each citizen understood and wanted to obey God, and wanted to succeed with his mission. God had instilled in them a desire to display his glory by obeying his commands.

In the same way, every believer in Christ knows that doing what he said is not beyond our reach. But we still fail him. Christ mercifully calls us back to himself time and time again. His love is far more powerful than our consistency.

Thank you Jesus, for your forgiveness. Lead us to be more consistently faithful to your words, because they are not beyond our reach.