Deuteronomy 32:39-43 – Only our best for God

In Deuteronomy 32:9, God states the one unchanging and important truth concerning Himself. Whether it be in the life of the children of Israel or for us believers today, this one truth is all that matters. It is that God alone is God and besides Him, there is no other. All others who claim to be God are false. In the earlier verses of Deuteronomy 32, God is seen as acting in such a way as to bring the children of Israel to realize and acknowledge this fundamental truth. He alone holds the key to life and death. And while He is the one who will wound, He will also be the one who will heal. The point of these verses is that while it may look as if God is through with them, there is still hope if they will repent. With God, the Sovereign, they will still have hope but not so in anyone else.

Deuteronomy 32:41-42 show us that in God’s dealing, He will always act justly. And in executing His vengeance, He will exact the appropriate payment from those who hate Him. There will be no escaping in His severe dealing. And there will be no one who can deliver from His dealing. So in verse 43, the nations, meaning the Gentiles, are called to rejoice with God’s dealing with Israel, His people. While God may have used Israel’s enemies as His instrument to chastise them, He will also finally turn to deal with those instruments that He used. God will atone for His people and restore them to the land. Wonderfully, Paul in quoting this verse in Romans 15:10 shows us that when Israel has been restored to God, all the nations will be blessed.   

We cannot get away from the obligation of worshipping and serving God alone. For He is the only true God worthy of our total allegiance. The virtue of who He is alone will be enough to cause us to want to worship and serve Him. Since God is worthy of our worship, nothing short of our total commitment will ever be an adequate response to who He is. So let us worship and serve Him with all our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength. Only in giving Him our very best will we be offering to Him a befitting response. Let’s do it!