Obedient Faith

October 6, 2019 Background Scripture: Deuteronomy 4:1 – 14; 5:1 – 21 Lesson Passage: Deuteronomy 4:1 – 8, 12, 13 In the background scripture of our lesson, Moses was preparing a generation to enter and occupy Canaan. Moses reminded them of the statutes and laws he delivered to them. He reminded them that those statutes and laws were given to him by God in the presence of the entire congregation. Then Moses told them of the importance of remembering those statutes and laws, obeying them, and teaching them to their children and grandchildren. The knowledge of the statutes and laws from God would be seen by others as a peculiar wisdom possessed by Israel. Their testimony that God had made His presence known to Israel would be incomparable to any known by any other people or nation. Israel would be regarded as a wise and special people among all the people of the world. This would all be due to God’s personal relationship with Israel and what God provided as instructions for them to follow. Neither Israel nor any other people, persons, or things could take credit for Israel’s special wisdom. This was from the divine heart of God. Israel’s obedience to the instructions from God would be a demonstration of their faith in God. There was nothing Israel could do that would be more important to their relationship with God than for them to obey God’s instructions for them. The challenge Israel had was no different than the challenge all of us face. We like to figure things out for ourselves. However, without faith, it is impossible to please God. Human pride gets the best of us—especially when confronted with all of the truth needed to please God. Perhaps if God had given them some extraordinary task to perform in order to achieve holiness, they would have gladly attempted to do it. But this is not what God required. God wanted simple obedience to His instructions. And what was contained in those instructions? Honor and respect God as the only God, honor one’s parents, respect the lives and property of other people, and don’t set your affections on something that belongs to another person all constitute the expected behavior God defined in the Law. With this, God was saying to Israel, Do this and live. Faith is a matter of the heart and not a product of the head. God does not leave it up to us to discover Him or to figure Him out. God revealed Himself to faithful people and committed to them the responsibility to teach others about Him and how they can get to know Him for themselves. Then God gave statutes to be followed by those to whom He had revealed Himself as their God. Those statutes define holiness. God is holy and He demands that all who would be His must also be holy. Again, we don’t have to determine what is holy and what is not holy. We are not qualified to define or distinguish holiness from unholiness. God did that for all who would become His. As God revealed some of His attributes, the list included being angered by unholiness and being jealous of worship offered to idols. God stated emphatically that He is the one who delivers out of bondage and danger. There is no other god. All praise should be to God, and Him alone. As it was (and is) with Israel, so it is with Christians today. We are admonished to trust God and let our faith be demonstrated by our obedience to God. Robert C. Hudson September 18, 2019