Take
Possession Of The Land Of The Lord
Now, Israel, hear the
decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and
may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors,
is giving you. Do not add to what I
command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your
God that I give you.
You saw with your own
eyes what the Lord did at Baal Peor. The Lord your
God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, but all of you who held fast to the Lord your God are
still alive today.
See, I have taught you
decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them
in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully,
for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear
about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and
understanding people.” What other nation is so great as to have their gods near
them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what
other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this
body of laws I am setting before you today?
Only be careful, and
watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have
seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your
children and to their children after them.
Deuteronomy
4:1-9
What are the words you
live by? Are they from the Bible? Are they things you put off, because they are
too hard? Maybe those same words are the words you should live by.
It is so easy to talk
about doing more than we actually do and to speak about truth we’re not living
by. We can become bloated with words, yet starved for reality, forgetting that
all of God’s commands flow from His heart of love for us.
The
strength of our actions should match the strength of our words.
Our
Daily Bread – May 12, 2014