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Daily Devotion: Deuteronomy 10:12-13

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Deuteronomy 10:12-13    "And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,  (13)  To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?"

What does the Lord require of you? Let's make the question a bit more personal:  What does the Lord require of me?  This question was also asked centuries later in the book of Micah. The questions are asked concerning what is to be brought before the Lord when we worship Him.  Shall I bring my burnt offerings before Him?  Shall I bring my animal sacrifices - calves, rams, lambs?   In Micah, the thoughts go to the very extreme:  "Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression?"  The answer is then given in Micah, "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" (Micah 6:8) 

The answer that is given in Micah is in accord with the answer given by Moses while the people were still in wilderness. What does the Lord require?  Proper worship and service unto the Lord must consist of fearing Him, that is to say, we are to honor Him for who He is.  He is Lord of all creation and by Him all things consist and remain even unto this day. We are to walk in His ways. We are to love Him. When was the last time you told the Lord that you love Him?  We are to seek to serve Him by serving one another with our very hearts and souls focused upon Him!  We are to keep His commandments to the best of our ability with a desire to honor Him.

Why does God require these things of us?  Does He want us to do this so His ego will be stoked?  Does He require these things in order that He would have the preeminence in all things?  Actually, the Lord God Almighty is to have preeminence in our lives simply for who He is and the fact that He has set His love and desire upon us. Let your heart and mind be set upon that fact.  He is God, Who created and sustains the sun, moon, and stars. He set the earth in its perfect orbit around the sun. He maintains the proper mixture in the atmosphere for us to be able to breathe and conduct our daily activities. In all these things, He still takes the time to listen, with joy, to our feeble efforts to worship Him. He takes time to listen to our prayers, our desires, our needs, our whims.  And just a quick word concerning the last question in the book of Micah: "Shall I bring my firstborn?"  We know the answer is a definite NO; yet, in thinking on the answer to that question, we must take our thoughts back 2000 years ago. God does not require that of us, but He did require that of Himself.  He gave His only begotten Son for our transgressions.

And in all that, He requires us to love Him, to honor Him, to do what's right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Him.  Why does He require this at our hands? The answer is found in three words: "for thy good".   Now think on that.  All of God's requirements are for our benefit, not His. There's not another like Him.  Take a moment to praise Him and express your love to Him. 

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