WHAT’S
GOD SAYING TO YOU? Do you know? Do you spend enough time with Him to be
able to hear His voice, know when it’s Him talking and not your own internal
voice or the world’s?
Once you’ve determined that it
really is God speaking to your heart, you need to ask yourself the next
question: What am I going to do about it? Maybe your answer is “nothing”
because you don’t like what God’s telling you to do. Or maybe it’s “gee, I’d
love to God, but I’m terrified,” or “I don’t have enough faith in myself, so
how am I going to do that?” Scripture is loaded with people who answered in all
of these ways. But for today, let’s get back to the basics of just asking
ourselves: What is God saying to me? That’s a great place to start.
Using the passage in Deuteronomy 10,
verses 12-22, we see that Moses asks that very question of God’s people. It’s a
section referred to as “The Essence of the Law.” It’s the soul or spirit of the
relationship God’s people should have with Him. It begins: “And now Israel,
what does the LORD your God require of you?” The same question God asked
thousands of years ago, He’s still asking. So it’s just a pertinent today as it
was then.
After he asks the question, Moses
provides a cheat sheet so there is absolutely no question about the correct
answers. You’ll need to read all of verses 12 and 13 to get the answers, but
here they are in list form:
1. To fear
the LORD your God.
2. To walk
in all His ways.
3. To love
Him.
4. To serve
Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
5. To keep
the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which are for our good.
While the first directive focuses on
an attitude, the next four shift that attitude into action. Our attitude toward
and about God drives us to, and needs to be reflected by walking, loving,
serving, and keeping. It’s like the Ten
Commandments in a nutshell, which start out with what our attitude toward God
should be and then works out from there. Even Jesus narrowed it down to two
things to remember: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and
then your neighbor as yourself.
Dr. Paul Tripp, pastor, author and
speaker, does a great job of summarizing and defining these in his July 5
“Wednesday’s Word” blog post. I’ll summarize Dr. Tripp’s definitions.
Fear—an awareness of who God is and who we are in relationship
to Him;
Love—knowing who you love more than anything else and how that
drives your behavior;
Act—God-focused, functional living. As in working out your fear
and love in practical,
daily actions. What psychologist Dr. Randy Carlson calls intentional
living.
You’ll want to click through and
give Dr. Tripp’s post a read. It’s short, to the point, and he follows it up
with 3 great Reflection Questions that will keep you thinking all week. I was
definitely convicted by a couple of them.
Until next week!
May your fear
and love of God move you into more areas of walking, loving, serving and
keeping!
Blessings,
Andrea
May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your
soul prospers (3 John 2).
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