Deuteronomy
chapter 4 is an emotional plea for the people of God to study, learn,
apply and live out God’s commands. Moses will re-teach God’s
commandments to a people that were too young to understand them 40
years earlier at Mt Sinai. His encouragement speaks directly to you
and me today. He begins, “Hear
the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them and you
will live“.
This is truly life changing information. The next reason Moses
gives to study God’s word is, “Observe
them carefully, for you will show your wisdom and understanding“.
When we apply God’s truth to our daily lives we appear wise to
those around us. This is not some kind of unapproachable piety, but
something observed up close. He says, “Do
not forget… or let them slip from your heart as long as you live“.
When our words match up with our actions, the people around us will
notice and comment about our wisdom. The next reason to study
God’s word is so we may pass on that wisdom. “Teach
them to your children and their children after them. Remember the
day you stood before the Lord“.
It has been said that God has no grandchildren. In other words,
each of us must come to our own faith in God. But we leave a
heritage of honoring God to our own family. The older we get the
more we see, “the seed doesn’t fall far from the tree”. What
kind of heritage are you passing on?
Moses
next recounts the way God Himself spoke to the nation from Mount
Sinai, “You
came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with
fire…The Lord spoke to you out of fire… He declared to you His
covenant… He commanded you to follow and then wrote them, on stone
tablets… The Lord directed me to teach you… the laws you are to
follow in the land“.
Moses reminds them, “You
saw no form of any kind… so that you do not become corrupt and make
for yourself an idol“.
God knows our tendency to hold events and places and experiences as
sacred. People have a hard time maturing in the faith when they
continually try to recreate an experience. God desires us to seek
Him daily. “For
His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your
faithfulness.”
(Lamentations 3:22-23) “God
is Spirit and His worshippers must worship Him in spirit and in
truth.”
(John 4:24) Let’s not limit God by making Him small enough to be
an idol.
The
chapter closes with Moses reminding the people of their history with
God. “God
created man… take for Himself one nation… miraculous signs and
wonders… your God did for you in Egypt… that you might know the
Lord is God… brought you out of Egypt… bring you into the land as
an inheritance… that it may go well with you and your children
after you and that you may live long.”
It is good to remember our own individual history with God, but only
to continue growing. If you have been on the sidelines watching God
work in others around you, it is time to get into the game. Cross
over into the promise of God. As Moses explains, “Our
God is near us whenever we pray“.
Wherever you are, God is only a prayer away.