Deuteronomy 6:1-9; 11:13–21
Summary:
The end of the law is obedience
An exhortation thereto
by promise of God’s great blessings
and by threatenings
A careful study is required in God’s words
6:1. “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess,
6:2. “that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.
6:3. “Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you `a land flowing with milk and honey.’
6:4. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!
6:5. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.
6:6. “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart;
6:7. “you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
6:8. “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
6:9. “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
11:13. `And it shall be that if you diligently obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,
11:14. `then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.
11:15. `And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.’
11:16. “Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them,
11:17. “lest the Lord’s anger be aroused against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.
11:18. “Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
11:19. “You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
11:20. “And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,
11:21. “that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth.
Comments:
God announces, through his prophet Moses, a list of rules to live by. Laws that are intended for good, to make life pleasant. Commands that aren’t burdens or restrictions, but liberating.
God wants us to worship him, and give him respect and reverence. We are told to fear him, but the responce he is looking for is to return love to him. He is our one and only God, and we should love him with all our heart, soul, and strength. With all our heart, or emotions. With all our soul, or mental ability, or thoughts. With all our strength, or vitality, or physical activity.
Do what ever you like, but be aware and ask yourself, “is the things I am doing, the thoughts that I have ones that honor God?” Make an effort to learn new behavior that does honor him. Our emotions are a reflection of how we feel. Use your positive energy to honor him, and when things are not so good, take those emotions to him and let him guide you through.
Keep God in the front of your life. There is power in his words. Talk about his word in your home, and everywhere.
God promises prosperity and abundance if we keep his commands and love him. Even God’s chosen people were warned that they could lose his favor, and have their prosperity and land taken away if they stopped following his laws. Plants need a time of rain to start growing, they also need sunlight and heat, finally more rain to help finishthe maturing. Just as with crops, God sends us spiritual rain when we need it to help us grow and mature.
Again, keep the words of God in the foreground. Teach them to our children at home and when we are out doing activities. God promises to bless us and make us to prosper.