Deuteronomy 1:42  “But the Lord told me to tell you, ‘Do not attack, for I am not with you. If you go ahead on your own, you will be crushed by your enemies.’” (NLT)

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You have never lived a moment out of God’s presence, and you don’t want to. 

After the twelve explorers spied out the land and returned with a majority report that was terrifying and demotivating to the people, God told the whole community to turn around go back to the starting line. Every adult would die in the wilderness, and the following generation would enter the Promised Land. 

Forty years of camping lay ahead. Forty years of living outside the promise, not because of God’s inability to provide, but because they chose to go their own way. Ever since Eden, we have been tempted to be our own providers.

Once the people realized it was a choice of battle now or die in the wilderness, they decided warfare was better than wandering. (See 1:19-41.) Their delayed obedience was disobedience, and the consequences of their choices were completely destructive. 

God, who had been with them to save them, provide for them, and guide them, whose presence was visible in cloud by day and fire by night, who provided miracle bread every morning and water from flint rock, told them upon their redecision, “I am not with you.” 

Going anywhere without God is going the wrong way to the wrong place for the wrong reason. 

God’s path never lacks God’s power, God’s supply, God’s guidance, and God’s destiny. 

Any path without him is doomed. 

Hell is such an outpost. There is no grace, no goodness, no kindness there. Contented smiles are outlawed. Joyful laughter is extinguished. There is no hope and no recovery. 

Going your own way, no matter what God may say, is always the best way to ruin the day. 

Better forty years of wandering in God’s presence than a single day having it your way. 

Cooperating with God in all his goodness enriches and empowers. Wonders and waypoints of stunning beauty and clarity bless those who walk with him. We can live with God’s abundance and presence in a Psalm 23 life, or we can wander without help and hope on the highway to hell. 

We can sign rebellious songs and wear rebellious designs, but sooner or later, we realize rebellion robs us. It takes away life; it doesn’t give it. It ruins relationships; it doesn’t enhance them. It leaves us destitute; it doesn’t provide satisfaction. 

Later in this book, Moses will say, 

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭30‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!” The key to life is in knowing God and enjoying him forever. We can choose the glorious goodness intended by our Designer, or we can waste our lives at the hands of our destroyer. 

Life is about as good as the choices we make. Let’s make a good one now. Today, and every day remaining on our punchcards, let’s choose life. Let’s choose joy. Let’s choose to walk with God.

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I will choose the key to a life that is full and meaningful, rich and rewarding, shaped by joy and overflowing with God’s highest and best.

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Our Father, I choose you. I choose your will your way in your timing. I choose life. Thank you for your grace and goodness. Thank you for meaning and purpose. Thank you for welcoming us into your presence as your dearly loved children. Amen.