Deuteronomy 10:12-22 GOD’S WORD Translation
Israel Encouraged to Follow God’s Guidance
12 Israel, what does the Lord your God want you to do? He wants you to fear him, follow all his directions, love him, and worship him with all your heart and with all your soul. 13 The Lord wants you to obey his commands and laws that I’m giving you today for your own good. 14 Remember that the sky, the highest heaven, the earth and everything it contains belong to the Lord your God. 15 The Lord set his heart on your ancestors and loved them. Because of this, today he chooses you, their descendants, out of all the people of the world.
16 So circumcise your uncircumcised hearts, and don’t be impossible to deal with any longer. 17 The Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, powerful, and awe-inspiring God. He never plays favorites and never takes a bribe. 18 He makes sure orphans and widows receive justice. He loves foreigners and gives them food and clothes. 19 So you should love foreigners, because you were foreigners living in Egypt. 20 Fear the Lord your God, worship him, be loyal to him, and take your oaths in his name. 21 He is your glory. He is your God, who did for you these spectacular and awe-inspiring deeds you saw with your own eyes. 22 When your ancestors went to Egypt, there were 70 of them. Now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
As the book of Deuteronomy begins, Moses and the people of Israel are standing at the edge of the promised land on the other side of the Jordan River.
Joshua will lead them across the Jordan and into the land after God commands Moses to die for his disobedience in striking the rock twice instead of just once.
In obedience to the Lord’s command, Moses hands authority over to Joshua.
But, before the change of leadership happens, the people take a long pause to listen to Moses explain the law, “Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law.” Moses is now 120 years old. God will let him rest.
In fact, the word Deuteronomy means “second law” or “repetition of the law.”
Our Verse for this devotional comes from chapter 10 of Deuteronomy just after Moses reminded the people of their parents’ failure when they fashioned and worshiped the Golden Calf.
In response to their idol worship, God was ready to wipe them out, but Moses plead with the Lord, appealed to the glory of his name. God graciously relented.
And, in Deuteronomy 10:10 Moses says, “The Lord was unwilling to destroy you.”
In other words, the mercy of God is on full display as we come to Deut. 10:12-13.
“The Mercy of God was on full Display”
“The Love of God was on full Display.”
“The Glory of God was on full Display.”
These truth’s are really important to remember when memorizing this passage.
These words of truth accurately describe what God deserves from his people and demonstrates our chronic inability to ever live up to it, all at the same time.
God demands and by His actions, by His works, He deserves our obedience and every affection locked away in our hearts. And, by God’s grace, and only for His Glory alone we should daily strive to give Him all of what is 1000% rightly His.
Why should we hesitate?
Why do we hesitate?
Why would we hesitate?
As we strive to live this out and labor toward obedience and fight for the godly affections of our hearts, we can also rest in the gospel truth that Christ has already achieved this obedience in our place. Jesus has feared the Lord our God.
He walked in all His ways without ever wavering. He walked, hungered, thirsted 40 long days and nights through the truly most extreme temptations that Satan could ever willfully inflict on Him.
Still, after all of that, He persevered, He still loved His Father with a perfect love. He served his Father with quite literally last every beat of his heart and every portion of his soul. He kept every commandment and statute of the Lord.
He walked the earth completely sinless.
It seems so natural to love God because he first loved me (John 13:34; 1 John 4:19).
But I remember all too vividly when I didn’t love God with all my heart and soul.
In that way each one of us is like the ancient Israelites.
There are people, things, and situations that both rigorously and vigorously compete for our maximum love and attention. They often start subtly and cause our love for God to shift, fluctuate, fragment. We take our leap from the Temple.
Our love for God ought to be a instinctive response to his love for us. Obedience is an excellent indicator of our love.
Jesus told his disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commands” (John 14:15).
Love for God and obedience to God are to be considered inseparable. We know very well that loving God goes far beyond mere words.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we follow the Lord by leaving our old life behind (Philippians 2:1-18). Our Lives are no longer all about us but all about our love relationship with the Lord.
We deepen our love by getting to know God’s character, who he is, his ways, and what he does.
We do this by reading the Bible, observing God’s presence in our lives, and being around people who love him. Love comes from a heart of gratitude.
So, as we hide this portion of the word in our hearts this week, let it be a call to obedience and an occasion for thanksgiving for the gospel, all at the same time!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 19 Authorized (King James) Version
Psalm 19
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
2 Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language,
where their voice is not heard.
4 Their line is gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
5 which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven,
and his circuit unto the ends of it:
and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul:
the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart:
the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever:
the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold:
sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned:
and in keeping of them there is great reward.
12 Who can understand his errors?
cleanse thou me from secret faults.
13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright,
and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart,
be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord,
my strength, and my redeemer.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 