Day 57

Obey

Read: Deuteronomy 11-13

The constant theme of Deuteronomy is that God’s people should obey his commandments. But isn’t this one of the major themes of the entire Bible? We are saved not by works but by trusting in Jesus Christ. As saved persons, however, we are called to good works.

Just as with the Israelites, God promises that blessings will flow from obedience. “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” And disobedience brings heartaches. It can be no other way (Deut. 11).

Obeying involves worshiping the way God has told us to worship. He showed the Israelites how to worship and how not to worship (Deut. 12). We too must worship God from the heart, responding to the way in which he has graciously dealt with us in his Son Jesus Christ.

Obeying is also a matter of daily living. Things go wrong for individuals, for families, and for nations when everyone does “whatever is right in his own eyes” (v. 8). God has given us not minute rules, but great principles of love and justice which we are to obey.

We must recognize the danger of others trying to lead us astray (Deut. 13). The section ends with the words “doing what is right in the sight of the LORD your God” (v. 18). We must make our goal not to please ourselves, not to please others, but to please God. The result will be that we will be richly blessed.

PRAYER
Father, give us grace to obey you. In Christ. Amen.