Deuteronomy 10:20 "Thou shalt fear the
LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by
his name."
In this passage, Moses was instructing the people concerning their daily walk
with the Lord. In order to enjoy a proper walk (relationship) with God, we must
exalt Him in our hearts and minds. "Thou shalt fear the LORD thy
God." Yes, there is somewhat of a fear concerning the Lord. The
writer of Hebrews reminds us it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
the living God. But our walk with Him must be based upon a reverential honor
and love for Who He is. He is God, the Creator and Sustainer of all things.
He is all glorious and majestic. We are to walk with Him according to His
terms, not ours.
We are to serve Him as worshippers. That is to say, we should take every
opportunity to publicly express that exaltation we hold in our hearts. We honor
Him. We love Him. We think of Him. We pray to Him. But we also should speak of
Him in the most honorable manner as we interact with others. We should serve
Him by expressing to others our trust and confidence in HIm.
We are to cleave to Him. We express our need for Him in many different ways,
but we are also to seek to walk in those paths of righteousness through which
He has promised to lead us. The struggle in our lives comes as a direct result
of our eyes seeing the things of the world but our heart tells us we are to
walk with the Lord. It is imperative that we seek to walk as closely to Him as
we possibly can.
We are to swear by Him. It is a sad statement that on some days, we probably
hear other people speak the Lord's name in vain rather than in a worshipful
manner. The word "swear", in this passage, refers to promises made.
We often make promises as to what we will do or won't do in the future. Moses
tells us to "swear by His name." In the New Testament, James
4:15 states it in this manner: "ye ought to say, If the Lord will,
we shall live, and do this, or that." When we tell someone we are
going to do something, we should include this thought and intention, "The
Lord willing, I will do this or that."
Why is it important for us to include the Lord in our thoughts, our words, and
our actions. Deuteronomy 10:21-22 speaks to that reason. "He
is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and
terrible things, which thine eyes have seen. Thy fathers went down into
Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee
as the stars of heaven for multitude." (Deuteronomy 10:21-22) Again,
looking to the New Testament, we see Jesus healing the man who was possessed by
legions of demons. Afterwards Jesus told the man, "Go home to thy friends,
and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had
compassion on thee." (Mark 5:19)
Do we not have many great things to tell others concerning the great things our Lord has done for us?