Message: In Deuteronomy 5 Moses was going over the commandments again
and reminded them of how these commands were given. He described how God had
spoken the commands to them audibly through the fire, cloud and thick darkness on
the mountain. The people were fearful and didn’t want to hear God speak to them.
It was scary so they told Moses to talk to God without them and just bring them
the commands. God heard them and told Moses “I have heard the words that
these people have spoken to you. Everything they have said is right. If only
they had such a heart to fear me and keep my commands always so that they and
their children would prosper forever.” It seems God was acknowledging
their fear of his voice, but pointing out that they were missing the fear that
leads to obedience. I feel like we are the same way! We often don’t want to
hear the voice of God ourselves, so we pick and choose pastors and songs to
listen to in place of our own time with him. When we don’t spend time with him
ourselves we harden our hearts and fall for all kind of things. We can’t do
anything sustainable that way. We need the voice of God to lead us into truth.
God we especially need you in times like these! I also found it interesting
that after all that it said “Israel, return to your tents”. I’ve seen this all
over the old testament and it hit me today that God is calling us to return to
our homes and live out these commands. We’re in a world where everyone is
instructing each other, but what we really need to do is return to our homes,
listen to the voice of God and live this out!
