Obeying the Commands

August 23, 2009

Background Scripture: Deuteronomy 6
Lesson Passage: Deuteronomy 6:1 – 9, 20 – 24

Why are there so many rules for every facet of life? Rules govern both private and public affairs of life; but why? These are not the questions of those with a testimony but of the yet unborn generations that must be taught the hard learned lessons of older generations. This is how civilization has advanced whether it was moral and ethical advancement or immoral and unethical. Rules were reminders of previously discovered pitfalls to prevent future generations from repeating the same mistakes as past generations. With each injury or death, a new safety regulation sprung up to prevent others. An inevitable part of an evolving society is a fabric of rules, ordinances, and laws. These are physical things that man comes up with of his own accord. Man is also a spiritual being. Just like there are physical laws that should be heeded for man’s physical well-being, there are also moral laws that must be heeded. Who defines these moral laws and can as a result of personal experience declare them to be necessary for the moral evolution of a society? The answer to this question is not self-evident and as a result has led to man’s development of many systems of religion in a vain attempt to reform society. But man need not grope in the dark in search of the unknown and the unattainable. God, the moral architect of the universe, has delivered to man what man could not have obtained on his own.

In our lesson today, we have Israel on the verge of becoming an independent nation with its own territory and all of this has come about due solely to the work of God. Their independence provided freedom from other nations but it did not make them independent of God. It was God who had created them as a nation of people and now was about to fulfill a promise he made to their progenitor, Abraham. They would not be just another nation in the world. They would be a peculiar people among all people. They were to be a God-centered and God-governed nation. They were to be the moral examples for the entire world. Their morality or righteousness would derive from the system of commandments, statutes, and judgments delivered to them by God. Many of them had witnessed the devastating effect of not following God’s commandments. They were now reminded that it was their duty to pass these instructions on to future generations so that they would prosper and remain in the land. Many of them were witnesses as children to God’s mighty acts from Egypt throughout the forty years of desert wandering. Their testimony formed a basis for their obedience. I often refer to this group as the greatest group of faith presented in the bible as a group. They had grown up understanding the importance of following God’s commands even if they did not seem logical. God had proven himself to be faithful over and over again. They had witnessed the devastation brought upon their fore-parents for their lack of trust and faith in God. Where their fore-parents were afraid at the edge of a calm sea, this group would obey God’s voice to walk out into a flooded running river. Where their fore-parents grumbled practically every step of the way, this group would quietly march around a military stronghold for days until God said it was now time to shout. This group did not remember Egypt but instead remembered the benefits of obeying God’s commands.

Robert C. Hudson
July 31, 2009