Deuteronomy 13-17: Prone to Wander

These chapters start out with the command that any prophet or seer who tries to convince the people to follow other gods, must be put to death.  It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. - Deut. 13:4 NIV 

That command would not be as difficult to follow as the next:   If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. - Deut. 13:6-10 NIV

This is pretty radical, but God is a jealous God.  These passages remind us that we must recognize the power of those we love to convince us to follow other gods or take our eyes off of the one true God.  Anyone who has overcome an addiction knows that they have to leave the old behind:  friends, co-workers, even family.  Associating with anyone who is still living the old life that they want to escape is going to pull them back down. 

This morning I woke to the words of an old hymn, Come Thou Fount,  running through my head.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.(1)

I'm prone to wander, just like the Israelites, prone to leave the shelter of God's love for the promise of something that can never really satisfy.  If it means divorcing myself from all those I know that would entice me to follow after other gods, then they must become dead to me.

2010 Post - Deuteronomy 13-19:  Live Generously

(1)  Ro­bert Ro­bin­son, 1758; ap­peared in his A Col­lect­ion of Hymns Used by the Church of Christ in Angel Al­ley, Bi­shop­gate, 1759.