Verse for the Day, 21 June 2017.

Deuteronomy 10:12-22, “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,  (13)  and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?  (14)  Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.  (15)  Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.  (16)  Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.  (17)  For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.  (18)  He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.  (19)  Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.  (20)  You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear.  (21)  He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen.”

Why should I love, worship and obey God? The command for us to do exactly this appears numerous times in the Bible, especially in the book of Deuteronomy, but why? As a child, I lost count of the times I was told to obey, and when I asked why, I was given the answer, “Because I said so, that’s why!”. Sadly, such answers are far from helpful or satisfactory. Are we to love, worship and obey God, just because He tells us, commands us to? To be honest, God could require and command us to love, worship and obey Him, without giving us any explanation or reason as to why, after all, He is God. However, in His goodness, God gives us numerous reasons that not only explain why, but also serve to motivate and excite us to love, worship and obey Him.

In Deuteronomy 10:12-22, we see just some of the reasons that God gives us. We can divide these reasons into two categories: Who God is, and who God is to us.

In these few verses we are given a wonderful description of who God is. We are told He is the LORD God, to whom everything belongs, the earth, the heavens and the heavens of the heavens. The LORD God is not just a god, or one of many gods, He is God, He is the God, He is God of gods and the Lord of lords. God owns everything, He rules over everything and He is the most powerful, great, mighty and awesome being in all existence. Simply put there is no one and nothing that can compare with God. Everything you and I see, whether with our eyes, or through the lens of a telescope, or via the images of a satellite, it all, every speck and spot, belongs to God, it is His. Think of the most majestic, glorious, mighty and awesome sight you have ever seen. Multiply that by 1 million and you will still come up short of how majestic, glorious, mighty and awesome God is! The truth of all this means that when we come into God’s presence, our automatic, reflex reaction will be to fall down to our knees, and bow in worship of God. We won’t even think about it, debate it, or question it, such is God that we will respond by bowing before Him, automatically and immediately. No matter how big you think your understanding and picture of who God is, it is too small, too limited, He is infinitely greater!

Secondly, we are told who God is to us. This should be point of great encouragement to us, especially if we think about who God is and then who we are by contrast, why should God give even an ounce of care about us? Yet, remarkably, God extends an abundant love and care to all of us. We read that He is a God who is perfectly just, He has a deep care and concern for those who are in need, for those who are oppressed, and He is our rescuer. Why is God all this and more to us? We are told that God is all this because, “the LORD set his heart in love…” upon us. Is that not incredible? The God who is infinitely greater than we can imagine has chosen to set His love upon us!

Some might think, “So what if God set His love upon us, what difference does that make?” This is where we see who God is to us and what He has done for us. He is not only just and perfect in all His dealings with us, He not only has a deep care and concern for us, He is good to us, He provides for our every need, He pours out His love upon us, He prospers us, He uses His power to work for our good, He reveals Himself to us and He saves us from oppression! The God of the Universe, sets His heart in love upon us and saves us from all our oppression, and sets us free through Christ!

It is tragic that we spend so little time thinking upon who God is, and who He is to us, and too much time thinking upon matters of much lesser importance. Our failure in this regard has a far reaching impact upon our lives, from a failure to trust God, to becoming increasingly spiritually complacent and apathetic. This is something which God knows the danger of, and how it can cause great distress, even destruction amongst His people. It is for this reason that God gives these clear instructions in Deuteronomy 10, He knows that if once the people of Israel have settled in the Promised Land, in the midst of their comfort and ease, they forget God and fail to love, worship and obey Him, it will have devastating consequences. God is not insecure, nor is He over-reacting, presuming the worst, God is all-wise! We need only to turn a few pages to Judges and there we will read of what happened to this nation when they did forget. God is warning them of what will happen if they continue in their stubborn sinfulness and how through a joyful obedience a better and more prosperous way can be found.

The very same encouragements and challenges come to us today. We who are believers in Jesus Christ have even greater reason to love, worship and obey God. Sadly, many of us follow the poor example of the Israelites, forgetting who God is, who He is to us and how we should respond. It should be no surprise to us that we are spiritually dry, just going through the motions of Christian life, with little joy and even less desire for God and the things of God. It should be no surprise that we find reading God’s Word, prayer, witnessing, worship and service so hard. If our hearts are not constantly meditating upon who God is, who He is to us, and what He requires of us, then our hearts will never be moved. They key to reviving our Christian lives and our church doesn’t lie in a programme, a dynamic preacher, an excellent book, or in a motivating video, it lies in focusing and centring our lives and minds upon what matters most, who God is, who He is to us and what He requires of us. It starts with us loving God, worshipping God and obeying God. Until we begin to do this, we cannot hope to reignite our hearts to burn with a white-hot love for God.

God of might, splendour, majesty and awesome power, God of love, justice, compassion and grace. You and You alone are God, to You all things belong and before Your throne all things will bow in worship. Help us LORD God to understand who You are, forgive us for being so quick to forget, may You burn onto our minds Your awesome power and majesty. Thank You that even though You are the infinite God, who is beyond all human comprehension, that You chose to set Your love upon us, and came to redeem us from our lives of sinful oppression. We cannot fathom how great an act of love and humility it is that the God of infinity should become a man and suffer and die for our salvation. Help us to keep these all-important truths as the very centre of our lives and the forefront of our minds, so that we might then respond in love, worship and obedience, through which You will deepen our knowledge of You and joy in You. Amen.