Moses isn't promising that nothing will ever go wrong in anyone's life if they try their best to live within the Lord's will. In this fallen world there will be accidents, diseases, and death. Believers must live among unbelievers who won't always behave honestly and honorably toward them. Life isn't necessarily a bed of roses for anyone but there will be far fewer thorns if we don't go through our days deliberately disobeying the laws and commandments of our God. Trouble will find us from time to time even when we're walking on the right paths but a situation like that will have a better outcome than one in which we purposely stray from the right path and go looking for trouble.
"Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you." (Deuteronomy 4:1-2) As we've said many times before, partial obedience is still disobedience. The Lord's laws and commandments are to be kept exactly as they are written. If we only obey part of a law then we are still disobeying it.
For example, the seventh commandment says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." But Jesus said a person could keep the letter of this commandment while breaking the heart of this commandment if a person was looking upon another while thinking lustful thoughts. (Matthew 5:28) To bring this example up to modern times, a person might not be physically unfaithful to their spouse but they might be thinking lustful thoughts about someone they work with or they might be in the habit of viewing pornography. They are not being fully obedient to the Lord in this matter and, in their heart, they are breaking the commandment. Eventually they may weaken enough to literally break the commandment. Jesus said the same type of thing about the sixth commandment which is, "Thou shalt not kill." Murder begins in the heart and Jesus warned His listeners that harboring hatred or anger toward their fellow man meant they weren't fully obeying the sixth commandment. (Matthew 5:22) Most people don't suddenly commit adultery out of the blue. They've usually allowed themselves to mull it over in their minds for a while first. Most people don't suddenly rise up and slay a fellow human being either. Wickedness was allowed to take root in their hearts long before their hands took action.
Moses reminds the congregation what happened when some of their men allowed wickedness to take root in their hearts. They fell into immorality and idolatry. "You saw with your own eyes what the Lord did at Baal Peor. The Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, but all of you who held fast to the Lord your God are still alive today." (Deuteronomy 4:3-4) The wages of sin is death, as the Apostle Paul phrased it in the book of Romans, and at Baal Peor these wages were paid out upon those who lusted in their hearts for pagan women and followed them to their idolatrous feasts and bowed down with them before images of false gods. We studied this incident in Numbers 25 in which 24,000 men died of a plague due to their sin. This was an enormous loss but a far greater loss would have ensued if the Lord had not judged such flagrant breaking of His commandments. It was better that 24,000 men die than that the entire nation forsake the Lord for false gods.
Moses is encouraging the people to obey the Lord so they will enjoy the goodness of the land. Sin might be pleasurable for a season, but eventually we reap what we sow, and Moses wants the people of Israel to sow only good seed so they may reap the blessings of the Lord. He is presenting a choice to the people: obey the Lord and enjoy His protection and provision or disobey the Lord and suffer the consequences. He will say something similar to the Israelites near the end of the book of Deuteronomy, not long before he dies, and we will close with those words today. The words Moses spoke to Israel are just as relevant in our own times as they were in his day and we would do well to obey them if we want to enjoy all the good things that come along with walking in fellowship with our God. "See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to Him, and to keep His commandments, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess." (Deuteronomy 30:15-16)
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