Deuteronomy – Page 11

Deuteronomy 6:14-25 – God’s Word is True

It is helpful for us to remember that when God makes a promise, he keeps it. His word is most definitely true. Moses reminds the people of that yet again. It is also helpful for us to remember that these words are spoken as part of the Old Covenant God made with his people. There was such a focus on being obedient. The people we were rewarded for their obedience and cursed when they disobeyed. There was a focus on earning and deserving. That’s not the same way things work now.

Jesus came and brought with him the New Covenant. He took on flesh, and he was our sacrificial lamb. We are cleansed and our righteousness is in Jesus. Now the focus is on believing and receiving. Our blessing comes from having faith in Jesus. Jesus bore our sins and failings in obedience on the cross. Our response and desire to please God and do his will comes from our gratitude to our Savior.

Deuteronomy 6:1-13 – The Main Thing

Read Deuteronomy 6:1-13

This is it! Today’s message is key, and Moses even gives a solution for how you can remember. If we do everything else wrong in a day, this is the one thing that should be of utmost importance. The Lord is our God, “and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.”

These may be familiar words to you because they are also restated by Jesus several times in the New Testament. This was Jesus’ answer when asked what the most important commandment was. Of all the laws given by God, this is “main thing” we must do as believers. We must LOVE our God with all that we are. Period. We must commit to this “wholeheartedly.”

Deuteronomy 5:23-32 – Obey God

Read Deuteronomy 5:23-32

When you imagine what it was like to have God’s voice thundering from the fiery mountain, what do you feel? Did you just read the words and not really put yourself in the moment as if you were there, too? I know I did when I read it the passage the first time. Take a moment and re-read the passage. The people were afraid. They wanted Moses to risk his life, so they’d be safe. Yet, they did said they’d obey God.

Sometimes it’s easy to let someone else take the heat in our place. Do you remember “drawing straws” to see who would have to do the dirty work? Most people tend to want to avoid confrontation. Sure, there are plenty of risk takers out there these days. But fear can paralyze us from taking action. These people in our reading today were clearly fearful for their lives. How cool was it that God spoke to all of them?

Deuteronomy 5:1-22 – The Law

Read Deuteronomy 5:1-22

The Ten Commandments with bibles on a black background

There are many gems in today’s reading. Of course, we recognize right off the 10 Commandments. We’ll look at that here in just a bit. First of all, I want to make sure you don’t miss something I almost missed. Verses 2-4 say, “The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Mount Sinai. The Lord did not make this covenant with our ancestors, but with all of us who are alive today. At the mountain the Lord spoke to you face to face from the heart of the fire.” What’s our take-away?

That Moses wanted to make it clear to the people he was talking to (and that includes us today) that God gave this covenant to “us.” Understand that the people he was addressing were, for the most part, not the ones who stood at the base of the mountain witnessing God first hand. Those people have already died, and it is their offspring listening to Moses now. It would be easy for them to say, those laws were given to “them,” not us. The law from God was given to them, and to us, and we are then given the responsibility to keep the commandments and pass them on to the next generation as if given directly to us. Cool huh?

Deuteronomy 4:32-49 – There is Only One God

Read Deuteronomy 4:32-49

I have always been intrigued and maybe even a little envious of the people who fled Egypt. As a child, I watched The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston, and the story came alive for me. As I read today’s passage, I marvel at what these people have witnessed. Do they realize how privileged they are? Are they beyond grateful for what God did for them? I think not.

Moses is reminding them yet again of exactly how blessed they are. But he warns them they can’t rest on their laurels, so to speak. They still need to obey God’s commands. Out of their reverence for God and what he has done for them, they should desire to follow and obey him–at least you would think so. Moses’ words can speak to us, too. “The Lord is God both in heaven and on earth, and there is no other.”