“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse.” (Deuteronomy 11:26)

Life is full of choices, but not all choices are equal. Some lead to life, others to destruction. This week’s parashah reminds us that walking with God always comes down to one central question: Whose way will we choose-ours or His?

A few years ago, I had what some might call a heated debate with an associate pastor of a church about the place of Israel and Jerusalem in the life of believers. At one point, the pastor dismissed me, saying, “Who are you to tell me what the Word of God says? I finished seminary, and you didn’t study.” I smiled and replied, “Then let’s open the Word together, your seminary degree against my lack of one. Whoever is convicted by God’s Word should repent.”

The truth is this: when we elevate human interpretation above God’s Word, no matter how educated or respected the source, we run the risk of being led away from truth. To walk with God is to prefer His way over our own desires, His clarity over our confusion.

Throughout this week’s parashah, we find the repeated phrase:

“…the place which the LORD your God will choose.”
(Deuteronomy 12:5, 11, 14, 18, 21; 14:23-25; 16:2, 6, 11)

The repetition is intentional. God is reminding us that He chooses. He chooses the time, the place, the way in which He will be worshiped. And He chose Jerusalem:

“…but I have chosen Jerusalem so that My name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.”
2 Chronicles 6:6

This is not a matter of human preference or theological opinion. It is God’s decree. Yet, many even within the believing community ignore or downplay Jerusalem’s significance.

When we look at Jerusalem today its streets filled with tension, its leaders entangled in corruption, its people divided, and its borders under constant threat it can be hard to imagine this is the city God chose for His dwelling. Every time I stand at the Kotel, I see my own people, the Jewish people, praying in hope yet not knowing the true hope they are longing for. At the same time, I watch busloads of Christian tourists snapping photos, smiling for their albums, and yet missing the deeper reason why God brought them here: to encounter His presence in the city He chose, and to be living testimonies of His love and grace.

And all around us, the nations debate Jerusalem’s future. Rockets are fired at her from enemies who long to erase her from the map. Politicians argue over whether she belongs to Israel or should be divided. Every headline, every debate, every attack is ultimately the world wrestling against God’s eternal choice.

But God’s Word lifts our eyes beyond the brokenness. Isaiah gives us a breathtaking vision of a restored Jerusalem:

O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and your foundations with sapphires… All your sons will be taught by the LORD; and the well-being of your sons will be great… No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that rises against you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD.
Isaiah 54:11-13, 17

One day, Jerusalem will fulfill her destiny. She will be the place where Messiah reigns, where nations gather to worship the one true God. Until then, you and I have a role to play. We are entrusted to prepare, to pray, and to act in ways that align with God’s eternal purposes.

The psalmist’s words should echo in our hearts:

If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.
Psalm 137:5-6

To claim allegiance to the King while neglecting His city is a contradiction. To declare love for the Kingdom while ignoring the place He chose for His Name is hypocrisy.

God’s Word is clear: blessing comes when we walk in His ways, when we align our lives with His choices not ours. He has chosen Jerusalem. He has chosen Israel. And He calls us to see, to look, and to choose life by walking in obedience to Him.

Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have compassion on him. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, declares the LORD.
Isaiah 55:6–8

So the question remains: What will you choose? Your own way—or God’s eternal choice?

Shabbat Shalom,
Moran