Is there anything more frustrating than getting ready to go somewhere, but not being able to find your keys? You search and search and search, but can’t find them. You know it’s bad when you look in places you’ve already looked or in places you know they can’t possibly be.
And have you ever looked at the keys on your key ring and wondered what some of them open…but you’re afraid to throw them away, because you know you’ll need one the next day?
Last fall, I participated in a wedding on a Saturday evening. After the ceremony was over, I realized if I headed home at that moment, I might possibly beat the traffic leaving the Arkansas-Alabama football game. The stadium is only two blocks from my house and the road would soon be shut down to traffic going toward my house.
I made it home just in time, but discovered the house was locked and I didn’t have a key. I had to wait outside for about thirty minutes until my son got home from the game with a key.
Keys. They’re great when you have the correct one and you know where it is. But it’s terribly frustrating when you need one to start your car or unlock a door and you can’t find it.
Does life ever feel that way to you? Like what you want is locked away and you don’t have the key? Maybe you feel that way about your marriage, parenting your children, work, your finances or your health.
In the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, the nation of Israel is camped out on the eastern shore of the Jordan River. After forty years of living in the wilderness, they’re about to cross into the land God promised to Abraham hundreds of years earlier.
Deuteronomy is a series of messages Moses gives to Israel. Mostly, he’s reminding them of where they’ve come from, what they’ve experienced and how God has instructed them to live. Near the end of the book, we find these two verses in Chapter 30:
“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.”
Moses reveals that loving, obeying and committing yourself to God is the key to your life. The word “this” can also be read as “He.” Either way, the key to life is an intimate relationship with God. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
Do you want to experience all God has for you? Do you want His blessings?
Love Him. Obey Him. Commit yourself to Him. It’s the key to life. It’s the key that unlocks His blessings.
Please though, don’t confuse God’s blessings with an absence of difficulties or painful circumstances. Nowhere does God promise a life of comfort if we follow Him. We still live in a broken world where we can count on suffering. What we have is the promise of His peace and presence no matter what we face.
You and I get to choose today between life and death, between blessings and curses.
Which will you choose?
If you choose life and blessings, the good news is that the key isn’t lost or hidden.