Called To Love His Word

Deuteronomy 4:5–8 (ESV) See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?

The Word of God created the Heavens and the Earth. The Word of the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt regardless of what Pharaoh said, decreed or did. The Word of the Lord sustained Israel through 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. 

The Word of the Lord is good. 

Deuteronomy calls us to hear God's word over 100 times. That says a lot. We MUST learn to pay attention to what God says so that our lives will be blessed. Here in Deuteronomy God makes it clear that only through obedience to His voice will the nation survive and thrive in their new land. The other nations will look with envy as Israel is near to their God, obedient to His perfect law and prosperous in their dealings.

This all brings me back to the original temptation of our enemy. He questions the Word of God in our lives. He calls us in to the negotiating room and begins to reimagine life apart from God's commands. He lies to us. He deceives us. And most of all, he gets us to buy into the idea that God is holding out on us and not really interested in giving us the good life.

Humanity has been buying that lie in one way or another since creation. But God has been speaking through Israel and here Moses to call people into the Truth that sets them up for long term success and blessing that will be noticed. How do we get there? When we realize God is for us and not against us. When we look at His kindness to us in the Cross and remember that He has been telling us from heaven in every way possible, holding nothing back, that if we trust Him, He will guard us and keep us.

God calls Israel to keep the law as handed down to them from Moses:
Deuteronomy 4:2 (ESV) You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.

The most important thing we do with God's law is trust it as it is. We do not take away from what He said or did, we do not add to it. It is a matter of faith. I have lived long enough to see that any "church" or "Christian" that decides they know better than what is in the scriptures will ultimately come to a slow and terrible end. No, it doesn't happen over night, but the inevitability of their demise is observed long term for people to see and realize that only in trusting God's Word is their life, spirit, and vitality! 

Man comes in and either denies the scriptures or legalizes them into traditions. Both errors only cause us harm. But when we take what God says as He says it, life comes into our existence and we are the beneficiaries of the Great and totally trustworthy God of heaven and Earth. 

Amen.