Theological Commentary: Click Here
I’ve heard
it said that the whole of the Law boils down to the Shema, or Shema Yisrael. “Hear, Israel.” Fortunately, there are a plethora of
directions that I can go with this idea.
For those of you who do not know what the shema is, it is a reference to
Deuteronomy 6:4. You’ll notice that
shema Yisrael, or hear Israel, are the first two words in that verse.
The
traditional track, and I believe a correct track, is to talk about what it is
that the shema teaches. The Lord is
One. What does it mean to say that the
Lord is One? Many people point to it as
a foundation to the coming New Testament teaching of the Trinity. Most people teach that it is absolutely a
declaration of the power of God. In
other words, He is not just a god but the God.
It also teaches that God is a personal God because He is our God. All of these are great teachings found within
the shema.
However, let’s
not miss out one the shema itself. “Hear,
Israel.” In other words, we need to
listen. We need to pause and accept that
we get our orders from another. My life
is not about my desire and my pursuit.
Rather, my life is about finding where God is at work around my and
joining up with God. My job in this word
is not to ask God to help me pursue my dreams but to stop and listen so that I
can join God in pursuing His work. For
me, that right there is the truest and deepest meaning to be found in the shema.
As I look at
my life and where God has taught me in the past several years, it is here in
this teaching. As I hint above, when I
was considerably younger I used to think that life was about getting God’s
blessing upon my agenda. When I finally
gave that issue up, I believe that I swung too far to the other side. Instead of asking God to bless my agenda, I
started asking myself what God’s plan for my life was. Unfortunately, that became a nearly equally
fruitless pursuit because I spent most of my life frustrated that I was chasing
some dream that I couldn’t even know for certain. Finally, I began seeking middle ground. Instead of looking for some grand plan, I
just started listening. I realized that
the grand overarching plan wasn’t the goal.
Instead, what was really important was finding Go din the here and
now. What does God want me to do
today? What does God want me to do
wherever I find myself planted?
This
concept, a concept that I find highly present in the shema, is an incredibly
freeing one. I don’t have to worry about
the grand plan. I simply have to worry
about being a part of God’s plan today.
If tomorrow my circumstances change, then I’ll have to find where God is
in those circumstances and do His work there.
As we take
this concept back to the chapter, that really is what the rest of the chapter
is talking about. When the Hebrew people
enter the land, they need to keep listening to God. They shouldn’t focus on the treasure that
they will take without earning from the Canaanites in the land. They shouldn’t focus on the false gods. In the same way, they shouldn’t test God and
question His overall plan. They are
simply to remember God and teach about Him to their children. They are to live each day in a walk with God,
wherever He leads them and with whatever He puts in their hands.
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