It’s worth remembering that the Moses we find here at the start of Deuteronomy is the same person who, when we found him at the start of Exodus, had opted to ‘quietly quit’ and to settle for a life amounting to not much.

He was going nowhere. He had nothing to offer other than his past failings and besides those, a long list of his inadequacies, at least as he perceived them to be.

The thought then that he might be a leader. The thought then that God might use him. That he might be the one to rally the troops. The thought then that he might be a game-changer. The thought then that he might be one to speak truth to power. The thought then that anyone might be the slightest bit interested in a single word that he had to say.

Stop it. That’s not the script as he read it.

But you see when God calls someone – and when God gets to work on someone – everything becomes possible. The most seemingly ordinary folk are raised up to fulfill the most extraordinary tasks.

Let that sink in as you ponder your own sense of inadequacy, your own shortcomings – as you tell yourself why you wouldn’t possibly be the right fit for the ministry role that’s being put before you.

As Moses discovered, it was his availability that mattered to God, not his ability. You see? It’s not what you can or can’t do. It’s what God can do through you. It would seem that God doesn’t so much call the equipped as equips the called. So it proved for Moses.

So what about you? Are you ready, as Moses was, to say, ‘Here I am’?

We find Moses, in today’s passage, now with his mojo on – in his stride – filling the boots that were his to fill. Here’s a man who’s become the person he was made to be. Gone, all of his inhibitions. Replaced by the kind of confidence that comes from knowing that you’re in the right place and that God always has your back.

So Moses steps up and declares, ‘So now, Israel, give heed…’ Or as it’s expressed in the Amplified Version, ‘Now, O Israel, listen and pay attention…’

Listen up and pay attention.

Let me ask. Is that anything like the attitude that you bring to the business of listening, when scripture is being read? When, perhaps on a Sunday morning, someone comes to the front and says… this is the Word of the Lord? Are you sitting up, listening up, paying attention?

You know it’s so easy to slip into an ‘I’ve heard this already’ mindset. And all the more so, the longer you’ve been walking this way. So easy to lose sight of, to forget.

But people, when God speaks. Now, as then through Moses, nothing else matters. Tune in. Get rid of over-familiarity and get fascinated. Always something to be heard coming your way.

Prolific English hymn-writer Christopher Idle has a hymn entitled Lord, you sometimes speak in wonders and in the second verse we find these words:

Only those who want to listen catch the all-important word.

When Moses said ‘Give heed, Israel’ he was inviting God’s people to listen for the all-important word. And it’s no different now when someone invites us to ‘Hear now the word of the Lord.’

So what did Moses say in that moment? What was that all-important word? Picture the scene; He’s on the main stage. Eyes are on him. He has the people’s attention. What kind of mic-drop moment is this going to be from Moses, God’s mouthpiece?

Weirdly, it’s not as exciting as all that! It’s not much more than follow the rules, keep the laws, do the right thing. As we Scots would say, hardly anything to set the heather on fire!

You know, those ancient Israelites had something of a tendency towards disobedience. Time and again, God spoke to them through mighty prophetic oracles, calling them to worship and devotion and obedience and time and again, they turned their backs and did their own thing.

One wonders how enthused they were by another entreaty to do as you’ve been commanded to do?

And would it be any different today, not least in 21st century western societies, where people warm to the idea of following rules as they do to the idea of root canal treatment. There’s something about the human condition, it would seem, that brings about the sense that rules and laws and ordinances and statutes are about nothing other than restricting and restraining. You want to spoil my fun. You want to hem me in. You and your rules!

But listen up; here comes the all-important word.

See what the text says; God’s people are to follow this teaching, these commands and statutes, so that they might live. And so that they might receive the gift that God has for them.

Nothing here about life being limited. Everything here about the living of life and the abundant life which Jesus went on to speak of and which, through Jesus, is made complete.

This is what Moses conveys. And it turns things on their head. Here we have the principle that God’s ways for living are to be embraced because they lead to life. It’s as if the psalmist wants to underscore this in what is written in Psalm 19:

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;

Doesn’t that sound like something you’d long for? The reviving of your soul. Have you ever been seriously thirsty and all you’ve wanted is a large glass of cold, refreshing water? It’s the embracing of God’s ways for our lives that brings refreshment to the soul. That safe that inner thirsting and longing.

The decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple;

Who among us wouldn’t want wisdom for the living of life? Who wouldn’t want a light for navigating the path set before us? Such are God’s commands.

8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;

In a world of much sadness, when the dark night of the soul threatens to engulf, who wouldn’t want the joy, joy, joy down in their heart? It comes from embracing God’s ways for living. And the psalmist goes on:

the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

You see the commands of God aren’t about limiting and restricting and crushing the life out of us. They’re not about making life less than it otherwise might be. It’s in accepting God’s ways for living that life becomes all it might be.

And why would we be surprised by that? Isn’t it obvious that following the maker’s instructions makes sense?

Years ago, having bought a new VCR player. And that makes it clear that it was many years ago. I did the right thing and decided to read the instructions. In the opening sections were the ‘dangers to be avoided’ and the ‘how to get the best out of your new product’ guide. Among them was this: ‘Do not submerge your VCR in water.’ Yes, really.

I guess it would be a different level of stupid to take the VCR into the bath with you but jokes aside, the point is clear; the manufacturer will advise, through written instructions, how best to use the machine to get the most out of it. And having made the machine you’d assume they’d know.

So why wouldn’t we want to listen up for God’s instructions for our lives. Believing that the One who created us knows best that which leads to life?

Maybe someone wants to object, asking, ‘But aren’t we free from all of those commands and rules and regulations? Doesn’t the New Testament tell us that Christ has set us free. That we can live now how we want?

Much-loved Scottish minister, Peter Marshall, who was minister at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington D.C. from the late 30’s and through the 1940s – and who served as US Senate Chaplain – said this:

‘May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right.’

Isn’t that good? And beyond that, and more importantly still, we read in John’s Gospel, that Jesus says:

‘You are my friends if you do what I command you.’

And also this:

‘‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments.’

The One who came to set us free. The One who came that we might know life in all its fullness. Is the same one who says ‘show that you love me by your obedience to me.’ Or as Marshall put it, by doing the right thing.

Here’s the all-important word. Here’s what Moses invited his people to respond to through the proclamation of God’s ways for life.

And here, now, is the same invitation to us. To follow God’s ways that we might live.