Not Exempt
Deuteronomy 17-20
Not Exempt, Deuteronomy 17-20. God set apart a people for Himself, a holy people, who were not to live like the other nations around them.
14 “When you come to the land
that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it
and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are
around me,’ 15 you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your
God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over
you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.
18 “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical
priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the
days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping
all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, 20 that
his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not
turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the
left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children,
in Israel.
Deuteronomy 17: 14-15 & 18-20, English Standard Version
Not Exempt
Deuteronomy 17-20
As we continue through Deuteronomy, chapters 17-20, I am impressed with the continual reminders that God set apart a people for Himself, a holy people, who were not to live like the other nations around them. Even the king, himself, was set apart to holiness and obedience to God. A copy of the book of the law was to be kept beside him so that he could read from it every day of his reign.
So
what are the parallels for us today? How important is it that we set
aside a time each day to spend in God's Word and in prayer with Him? Are
we really excused from this duty (actually, this privilege) because we
are too busy? In truth, the more busy we are, the more important it is
that we not neglect God's fellowship each day.
Just as even the king was expected to read the Scriptures, we, too, are not exempt. How much more important is it for us to spend time each day in the Word when the Word of God is so available to us today?
Think
of it, the king was commanded by God to read from His law every day.
Was there any decision that he needed to make that was not important
enough to consider in light of God's law?
That
really is the point. Like the king, nothing that we do should ever be done
without comparing it to God's Word; nothing is too little or too
insignificant. By God's grace, we, as Christians, need to be immersed in
the Bible so that it will guide even the thoughts and intents of our
hearts. No matter who we are, where we live, or what we do, we are not
exempt from obedience to the commands of God.
Only
through constant renewal through spending time in God's Word, can we
live each day to the glory of God so that we will learn to fear the Lord
our God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and
doing them.
New! Comments
Have your say about what you just read! Leave me a comment in the box below.