Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Deuteronomy 30 before reading the devotional below.
Several months ago, we were watching an old episode of The Amazing Race, a TV show in which teams of two race from pitstop to pitstop all the way around the world. One team had clearly gotten lost. They were hiking uphill through the woods. An hour into the hike, they began to wonder if they were going the wrong direction. Three hours into the hike, they were sure they were going the wrong direction. “But we have to keep going,” they said. “We’ve gone this far.” They had emotionally invested too much in going the wrong direction. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get back on track until they turned around.
In Deuteronomy 30, God shows both his incredibly wisdom and his breathtaking love. In his wisdom, he knows that his people will wander off track. They will disobey him, and God will release them to experience the consequences of their disobedience. They will lose the land God has provided, the harvests God has provided, and the safety that God has provided. They will be brought as exiles to a far off land, returned in a sense to the state God had found them in Egypt before he graciously saved them. Any Israelite who finds himself in that situation might be tempted to give up hope. But in that moment, God promises to still listen for the cries of his people. He promises to once again rescue and transform them. Even when God disciplines his people, he never abandons them.
God loves you. When you fail or falter or rebel, God still loves you. When you are as far away from God as you can imagine being, God still loves you. Because of that incredible love, you can always turn back to him and find the forgiveness and acceptance that you long for. All it takes is courage: courage to admit your sin, courage to be humble before God, courage to ask for help. God can (and does) promise to lovingly take you back. You will only find out the truth of that promise when you take the risk and return to God.