This week’s Torah reading is Parashat Nitzavim (Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20). Read on Shabbat, September 20, 2025 / 27 Elul 5785. The following is a special devotional drawn from this week’s reading.
“You are all standing today before the LORD your God, your tribal heads, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, small and great, that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, which He is making with you this day, that He may establish you this day as His people and that He may be your God, as He promised you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob” (Deuteronomy 29:9-11).
Moses summons all Israel, leaders and ordinary people alike, to stand together in covenant before God. This is not merely a ritual assembly but an urgent declaration of identity and commitment. They are called to recognize that God’s promises to their ancestors are real and that these promises come with responsibility. The covenant is not exclusive to the powerful but embraces every generation, every status, every person in Israel.
He reminds them that the covenant demands fidelity: leaving behind foreign gods, returning to the one true God, and following His commands. What God requires is within their reach. To choose life and blessings, to reject disobedience that leads to destruction, these choices are set before them clearly. They will remain in the land, not be driven into exile, if they turn to God with all their heart and soul.
In our own lives, this passage invites us to pause and examine our standing before God. Are we aware of the covenants we inherit and accept? Do we quietly live with faithfulness, or do we drift toward apathy or compromise? Standing before God means owning both our privileges and our responsibilities. We may have inherited promises, blessings we have not yet experienced but are still part of our story. We also bear weight for how we live with these blessings, whether we reflect God’s character in justice, love, and humility.
If you feel distant or unsure, this week offers hope. The covenant remains open to all who turn back with sincerity. Choices of small integrity matter: kindness when it costs something, confession when guilt weighs heavy, consistency when it is tempting to quit. And if you are in a place of fulfilled promises and blessing, remember that belonging carries calling. Your covenant faithfulness to God can put His goodness and wonder on display before a watching world who may otherwise doubt His existence.
This week, find one concrete way to stand in covenant before God and neighbor. Speak truth, practice mercy, or make amends. Let everything you say and all that you do echo what Moses calls Israel to: to be God’s people in word and in action.
PRAYER
Lord, help me stand fully before You today. Grant me courage to embrace both Your promises and the responsibility they carry. May my life reflect covenant faithfulness. Amen.
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