We're in the scroll of Deuteronomy. Israel is ready to enter the Promised Land. And Moses

is about to stand before them and give them a free game pep talk. And what should be a

motivational speech is then very peppy. If Moses was like a team coach in the locker room

right now, I think it would be pretty bad form. Because essentially what he's saying is like

the stakes are high. We've trained for this, like the previous team, you know, last year's team,

like lost the tournament, like failed. But here now it's your turn. And here are the stakes.

If you make XYZ play, I'm pretty sure we're gonna win. If you make ABC play, it's gonna be disaster

and doom. And here's the thing, I know you're gonna make the wrong move. I actually already know.

I know your parents, I know you, you're gonna lose. Instead of finding blessing, they're gonna find

curse. The curse in this case isn't God actively punching people. The curse is God removing

himself from their lives, letting chaos come back in. The curse is letting his people do what they want,

which isn't gonna end well. Notice here, this is significant. Part of the punishment is to get what

you want, which is to give your allegiance to other gods. There's a part of my desires and what

seems logical and good to me that actually are leading me to death. What we have here is a compelling

picture of the human condition. Even when we want to do good, our desires pull us astray. We need

something bigger than ourselves. We need the source of all life to intervene on our behalf.

The part of the Torah is diagnosis of the human condition is about a miss directed or distorted

desire. The most deceptive ones are when people actually think they're doing the right thing.

And what they end up doing is bringing pain and death. So a circumcision of the heart,

there's something that needs to be removed so that it dies, so that the real heart that Yahweh

knows humans are both capable of and will bring true life so that that can live.

I'm John Collins. Today Tim, Mackie and I look at the final movements of the Deuteronomy

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