February 14, 2023 - Deuteronomy 10-12

“At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and make an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and you shall put them in the ark’” (10:1-2). The Ten Commandments could not be lost for they were God’s words for all eternity: “The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets” (Exodus 32:16). In spite of Israel’s unfaithfulness and Moses’ anger when throwing the tablets to the ground – “And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain” (Exodus 32:19) – God’s Word stands!

So, Moses reminds the people of the commands of God and summarizes, “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, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?” (10:12-13) Two quick thoughts: 1) When we love God as we ought, everything else that is good (love toward our neighbors, righteousness, etc.) flows from that. 2) The commands of God are given for our “good.” To obey God is to be blessed.

When we walk with the Lord

in the light of his word,

what a glory he sheds on our way!

While we do his good will,

he abides with us still,

and with all who will trust and obey.

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way

to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. --John H. Sammis (1887)