This command that I give you today is certainly not too difficult or beyond your reach. ~Deuteronomy 30:11
Let’s take a little journey back to geometry class. We’re going to discuss postulates. Remember them? You start with a common belief, add a truth, and come to a conclusion that is the natural result of mixing these two elements.
For example, let’s start with a triangle. You might remember that the angles of a triangle always add up to 180 degrees. So here we go with a postulate: we have a triangle and one of the angles is 90 degrees. If the second angle is 45 degrees, then the last angle is also 45 degrees. Since the first two things are true, then the third thing must also be true.
Now let’s try a family postulate. If I am married and if my wife gives birth to a baby girl, then I am the father of a daughter. Since the first part of the statement is true, and since the second part of each statement is also true, then the combination of the first and second parts make each conclusion true.
Or let’s try a working-man’s postulate. If I have a job and if I’m drawing an income, then I owe my employer my best every day. See how this works?
In today’s reading we have a postulate. It starts with verse 1 and ends with verse 3. Moses presented this to the Israelites in terms they could clearly understand: since God can be taken at His word, and if He finds you obedient to His law, then He will “restore your fortunes, have compassion on you, and gather you . . . from all the peoples” (v. 3).
Over the next few verses, you’ll see that there’s a promise of prosperity. While theologians will arm-wrestle over the kind of “prosperity” God is referring to here, it’s indisputable that He does promise the kind of price-tag-switching joy that is consistent within His economy—where a private jet can be purchased with a single paycheck, a foreign car can be bought with lunch money, and a happy family is available with the consistent investment of a dad who considers his clan to be a priceless treasure.
When His people return to Him, God returns to them. He does the work of giving them new hearts through His Holy Spirit so they can love Him completely: “The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love him with all your heart and all your soul so that you will live” (v. 6).
Don’t you just love today’s verse? Turning to God with all we are is not too difficult for us. It’s not unreachable. He strengthens us to want to do what’s right and works in us to accomplish what pleases Him. This is something we can believe because we know it’s true.