Monday, March 26, 2007

Deuteronomy 11

The Essence of the Covenant (Continued) 1 - 12:1

My notes say that this section concludes Moses' preliminary instructions. Primary emphasis is on the love of the Lord as "the crux of covenental obedience" (putting that into English, I guess he means if we love the Lord, we will keep His commandments). You shall love your God, therefore, his decrees, his ordinances, and his commandments always (1)

The Lord blesses those who keep his commanments: If you will only heed his every commandment that I am commanding you today - loving the Lord your God, and serving him with all your heart and all you soul - then he will give the rain for your land in its season . . . (13 - 14).

Question: It seems kind of the opposite of our culture to "love the law" - why is this true?

2 comments:

FireBoy said...

Our culture is a "feel good" culture. If it feels good, do it. It's very easy to give in to temptations...or to "not think." I think if you love God, you WILL obey his commands. When my pastor preaches about love, he is sure to say love is not a feeling or emotion but an act of will. Love takes effort and sacrifice. Verses 18-20 really stand out to me. They remind us to keep God #1 and do whatever it takes to obey His commands, tie them to your hands, write them on your doorposts, talk about them when you lie down and when you get up... Most people in our culture would rather not put that much effort into something if they don't get to do what they want to do, when they want to do it.

Karlton said...

Fireboy: "love takes effort and sacrifice" that's so true.
JP: "If we obey our laws, we will have a peaceful society" I think that's where I was going with that too. The law is there to protect us as well as for us to observe. I've found that when I have rules, it's easier to focus on what I need to do.