Deuteronomy 04 Journey Through the Bible Deuteronomy 06
King James Version
The Book of Deuteronomy
Chapter 05
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Commentary
Deuteronomy 5
This chapter begins to reflect again on the requirements of the People, in order for them to receive the Covenant Promise. The Covenant Promise is not the Promise Land only. The Promise Land is only a part of the Covenant Promise. The entire blessing that God wants to bestow upon the People, the Chosen Ones of God, would include victory over opposition in the land, prosperity, deliverance from pestilence, divine intervention as situations develop, and many other benefits for optimum survival.
There are a host of Covenant Promises available to God’s Chosen People. These promises are only attainable by way of obedience to His will. If I were 10 years old and I wanted to go to Disney Land, I would need to be willing to yield to my parents will. They will take me there, but I must follow their leadership. I must prepare for the trip. I must fully understand how I am expected to behave. There are “ground rules” that must be followed, without fail.
What God requires of us is always to our benefit. His will is always to bring about improvement in our lives, and the unbelieving onlooker will see the supernatural phenomena of God’s outstretched hand. He is One to keep with the guidelines that He has set, so that the result will not depreciate. Far too often, those of us in a position of authority will yield to the rebellion of those we govern. We will compromise the guidelines for whatever reason, and those who we lead will begin to develop a heart like the heathen.
This is not always the case, but leaders must share the responsibility for those who they lead. It is no small task to bring anyone to a place of obedience, no matter how strong our skills are in leadership. For an effective leader to succeed in his goal, he must do well to follow the guidelines set for the people he leads. He must relate well to the circumstances that face the people that he leads. Most importantly of all, he must LOVE his job.
Have you ever gone somewhere like the Department of Motor Vehicles and was helped by a person who does not like their job? Their day is miserable, and their behavior will cause others to be miserable also. This person is in a position of authority, and we must yield to that authority, to follow the guidelines, even though it is very clear that some of the leadership are miserable.
The benefit of being a good example of one of God’s Chosen People is that God loves to be glorified. Our lives will not be and remain boring and bland for very long. Something will soon occur that will offer us the opportunity to show the Glory of God in our lives! This will happen as surely as a sailboat will be driven by the wind.
Somehow, we simple HAVE to find a way to bring back the Glory of God in our lives. Obedience is the first step to this. For us to be obedient, we must first understand what is expected of us. My rebellious heart would immediately look for shortcuts, or loopholes to this one rule, the first rule. This will not work. God will see the heart of the matter, even before it becomes a matter. We will acquaint ourselves with God’s will for our lives simply by reading and understanding God’s Word. This is done best by trial and error. All proven ways of man have gone through the process of trial and error.
Many of us are sore afraid of the error risk in this process. They ought to be. This kind of fear is a blessing to God, and to ourselves. This comes from a respect for the leadership of God. We aim to please, and want not to fail. We want to come to the full accomplishment of our Leaders’ will. This will bring to pass the full blessing of God. Not only will things work that don’t usually work, but we are being rewarded on top of the blessing.
It is a struggle to follow God’s will. It is a struggle to rebel against God’s will, too. We need to decide which struggle we will experience for our lives.
Friday, January 08, 2009 10:32pm
