And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? Deuteronomy 10:12-13 NIV
And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you? Isn’t that the question that all of us want answered? What does the Lord ask of me?
but to fear the LORD your God Fear = Respect God wants us to understand who He is, to have a healthy fear of Him, one that will cause us to stand in awe, and respect Him.
to walk in all his ways, God wants us to do things His way, live life as He desires. How do we know what His ways are like? In the pages of the Bible we discover His ways, His character, His passions.
to love him, God wants us to be passionately, head over heels in love with Him! He wants to be the first one we think of when we wake in the morning, and on our minds when we fall asleep, the first one we turn to with good news and the one we run to when our heart is breaking. He offers us and desires us to have an intimate relationship with Him.
to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, We are alive because God made us and the entire world system we live in, the earth, the sun, the moon, all of it. Since He keeps it all going, we keep breathing! We are completely dependent upon Him for every breath we take. Don’t you think our lives and everything we do should be for Him? Think of a time when you can honestly say you put your whole heart and soul into something. That’s how God wants us to serve him every day.
and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? The Lord’s commands are for our own good! He’s not reigning over us with an iron fist, trying to take away all our fun. Just the opposite is true. He desires to make our lives complete and full of joy. Why are we so foolish as to think we have a better understanding of what will satisfy us than our Creator? That’s ridiculous, He designed us, not just our physical body, but our emotions and our minds too. Only when we pursue a good relationship with Him, and follow His plan, will we experience real joy, peace, contentment and satisfaction.