Tuesday after the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 5, 2021 by under
Scripture: Deuteronomy 10:12-21 (NKJV)
10:12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? 14 Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it. 15 The Lord delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. 16 Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. 18 He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. 19 Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name. 21 He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen.
Devotion
We see the essence of God’s Law as Moses exhorts the people to follow the Lord, who is the God of gods and Lord of lords. God has given His Law because it is good and it reflects His character. He is faithful, therefore we are told not to commit adultery. He is the truth, therefore we do not give false testimonies. He provides what is necessary for us, therefore we should be content, avoiding theft and covetousness.
Besides the obvious reason to obey God’s Law–that is, to avoid the harmful consequences of sin–keeping God’s Law also lets us treasure who God is as our redeemer from sin. To walk in His ways is to meditate on His mercy toward us. Just as He saved Israel out of the land of Egypt when they were strangers, so also the Lord saved you when you were estranged from Him by your own sin.
Moses calls the people to remember God’s faithfulness to them by treasuring His Law. Christ’s Church also continues this call so that it may show in our actions that the Lord has bought us out of slavery to sin into peace with Jesus Christ.
Prayer: O God, forasmuch as without Thee we are not able to please Thee: Mercifully grant, that Thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
