Moses puts a choice before the people as he stands looking back into the wilderness from which they have traveled and they stand, on the bank of the River Jordon, looking past him into the Promised Land. It’s an incredibly poignant moment. He is about to be taken from them, and they will wait for many generations until his true successor, the Lord’s Anointed Messiah is revealed to them.

Moses makes it clear what is at stake. The nation is being asked to choose between life and death. They are asked to choose to follow what they have learned in the wilderness, or to forget the experience of living a life totally dependent on God’s provision and care, and to strike out on their own to make a life for themselves in a way that will ultimately lead to their death.

Choose what? Why?

But what exactly is it that they are being asked to choose? As I read this, it is the same choice that Lewis points out is often at the core of what we struggle with in this modern world. It is a choice between living a life of relationship and faith, and a life of control and domination.

The direct link to the sermon video is found here.