Deuteronomy 30

How do you come home again when you have traveled so far away from God? Is there any way to have a spiritual recovery?

Moses spoke to Israel about the curse that would come upon the nation if they disobeyed the voice of the Lord. That curse would involve a siege by foreign powers and the enslavement of exile beyond the borders of the land that God would give to them. But he also told them that they and their children would return.

The fulness of their restoration would not come just from being back in Israel. They would obey the Lord's voice with all their heart and soul and find great blessing. The turning point would come from an awakening in their hearts and minds while they were still far away. Moses said that they would remember the blessing and the curse that he wrote about in prior chapters. They would call that blessing and curse to mind among all the nations where the Lord their God had driven them. Like the prodigal son in Luke 15, they would consider the consequences of being so far away from their Father. They would remember their Father's land, the provision there, and the real possibility of going back, and they would determine to go home again.

God would not hate them for their past disobedience. He would shower them with the blessings that flow from His love. He had scattered them, and He would be the One who would gather them back again, providing for them and making them more numerous than previous generations.

That return would have to be accompanied by a true change of heart. They would have to turn to the Lord God with all their heart and soul. Is something like that possible? Not without the grace of the Lord bringing awakening, conviction, repentance, and new life.

While many Jews have already embraced Jesus as the Suffering Servant of the Old Testament and the true Son of David, many descendants of Abraham have not yet embraced the Jewish Messiah. That rejection does not have to be forever. They can come home, and so can many Gentiles who have wandered far away from Jesus. There is no better time than the present to walk in the grace that He has supplied to us through the cross.

The way back home is not far away. The way to God is through an inner hearing of a true Word.

The Word that has power to save is as near to a prodigal nation and a prodigal son as his own mouth and heart. If you call to mind the blessing and curse, and if you remember the love and bounty of the Father, if you remind yourself that all of this goodness is for you because of the One Lamb that God has supplied, then you are already looking homeward. Now confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe with your heart that God raised Him from the dead. Call upon His Name and find in that Name all of the salvation that anyone could ever hope for.

Life is found in the God of Israel and in the Voice of the Lord that has come from heaven. He calls us forth to life. We need to hear that call when we discover our current miseries. This is not just a call to us as individuals. It is still a call to whole people groups, even to the Jews, to hear the voice of Jesus. The Lord will grant them blessing, even godliness with contentment, which is great gain.