A Closer Walk
"And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord's commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?" Deuteronomy 10:12-13 NASB. The ancient Israelites are camped and are preparing to enter the land that the Lord God promised would be theirs. Moses, their leader, who led them out of Egypt and through their entire forty year wandering in the wilderness, is reviewing for them the events since their departure from Egypt and reminding them that their God has watched over them, guided them, protected them, and led them where He wanted them to go. Moses is also pointing out that as the Lord's chosen people they have a responsibility to obey His commandments and His statutes. The entire book is one sermon (How about that?). Jesus quotes from the book of Deuteronomy more than any other Old Testament book.
What does our God require of us? To fear Him, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve Him with all our heart and all our soul, and to keep His commandments and statutes. If you think about it, that is actually a pretty short list of things for us to do. Fearing God may mean to have reverence for Him, or be in awe of Him. It can also mean to be afraid of Him. We are also told to walk in all His ways. In broad terms, that would mean to focus on the eternal rather than the temporal. In other words, being aware of the spiritual aspects of life and not just the physical aspects. To walk in the ways of God requires us to know the ways of God. We learn that by reading and studying the scriptures.
Our commandment is to love the Lord. This is not love like, “I love popsicles.” This is love that prompts us to want to please our Master. An aside: In the world of work you can train almost anyone to do almost anything. Except the want to. You can't give them the want to. They themselves must provide that. We also must provide the want to. But loving God in this way motivates us to want to bring our want to. Doing this opens the door and paves the way for us to serve Him with all our heart and all our soul. Or said another way, whatever our hand finds to do, we should do it with all our hearts. “And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary,” Galatians 6:9 NASB. We are commanded to keep His commandments and His statutes. How do we learn what His commandments and statutes are? By reading and studying the scriptures, by hearing God's word proclaimed from the pulpit, and by attending Sunday School classes where we assemble with other believers and are taught the Bible and are able to discuss the meanings and applications of the verses and passages.
Moses proclaims to the Israelites that all these commandments and statutes are for their own good. “...and to keep the Lord's commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good.” Our God doesn't give us His commandments to be cantankerous. He gives them to us because they are good for us. And isn't that something to sing praises about?