Year 1, Day 161: Deuteronomy 10

It’s so Easy…

Oh how my heart breaks every time I read Deuteronomy 10:12-13.  “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?”  Moses has such a way to make it sound so easy.  All they have to do is to fear the Lord their God!

I know I truncated the list of conditions in my last sentence.  I did it on purpose, because the whole list of requirements is the natural consequence of the first.  Think about it:

·     We will only walk in the ways of the Lord when we fear Him

·     We will only love God when we fear Him

·     We will only serve Him when we fear Him

·     We will only keep the statutes when we fear Him

Read Psalm 111:10.  Now read Proverbs 1:7.  Finally, flip to Proverbs 9:10.  What do all of those verses say?  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom/knowledge.  This theme is central to God’s Word.  The beginning of a walk with God is acknowledging a genuine fear of the Lord.

Fear the Lord

Here’s a good question, though.  What does it mean to fear the Lord?  There are far too many people out in the world that think fearing the Lord equates to fearing eternal condemnation in Hell.  I hate to say it, but true fear of the Lord has nothing to do with Fire Insurance.  Fearing the condemnation of God is nowhere near what it means to fear the Lord.

The Hebrew word for fear found in this verse is “yare.”  Yes, this word can mean “fear” as well as “afraid.”  But this word can also mean “awe” and “reverence.”  It can also mean to recognize something as “terrible.”  {Note that the word terrible doesn’t necessarily mean bad or evil, but just incredibly beyond the scope of imagination – for example “Dinosaur” means “terrible lizard.”  In the case of “dinosaur” terrible doesn’t mean bad as much as it means awe inspiring.}

All God asks is that we fear the Lord our God.  Fear Him.  Recognize that the scope of His being is beyond imagination.  Understand that the breadth of His understanding is greater than our ability to conceive of Him.  Stand in awe of His greatness.  Revere Him in His power, justice, love, and righteousness.  Don’t just fear His ability to condemn us to Hell, but fear how great He must be to love a people that deserve that condemnation!

When we stand in fear of God – awe, reverence, and fear – then we will be motivated to walk in His ways, love Him, serve Him, and keep His statutes.  The beginning of the relationship with God is fundamentally rooted in fearing our God.

Consequences of Losing Our Fear

And what happens when we don’t revere Him?  When we lose our reverence and awe for God, we don’t see the reason to do things His ways.  We quit walking with Him, loving Him, serving Him, and keeping His statutes.  This is why I began this blog asserting that everything stems out of God’s request that we fear Him.  When we stop fearing God, we break the first commandment and lift up other things in our life as false gods.  This is precisely why we can teach successfully that all sin is fundamentally rooted in a breaking of the first commandment.

So let us take Moses’ words seriously as we close our reflection upon this chapter.  He is your praise.  He has done great and terrifying things.  Him shall you serve.  He is the one to whom we will all hold fast.  Rejoice this day, and let’s step forward acknowledge our fear for the divine!  Let us circumcise our hearts and yield to God!

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