Deuteronomy 4 - God's Desire of the Heart Towards the Law

What an excellent introduction to the law of God. It starts out reminding us that God is close to us and we only need to call on Him to be heard. What other god can produce results from or even let alone offer this to its people? We are also reminded that God's law outlines a nation that others look at and see wise and understanding people. Revival within a nation should produce a love and desire to upkeep this law because God states that his laws and statutes are righteous and correct. God doesn't change and neither does His character. The desire and expectations for righteous behavior are still the same in what is good and evil. If God says His rules and statutes are righteous in the eyes of Him to the old Israel, why would it be any different for us, the new Israel?

I love how before the law is even given at all, there is one overarching law that is above all: to keep no idols. God knows that if our hearts are not set on Him completely and fully, we can make excuses for His rules and statutes. God is a consuming fire that should be consuming our entire lives and capturing our hearts completely. God is jealous for us and will completely crush anything that distracts us from giving him our full worship and reverence. I constantly need God's help in destroying these things that distract from Him and that is true even to the point that I have been distracted from continuing this study through the law. Thank God for a life group that is filled with good-hearted people who can point me back toward God.

The final reminder even after the banning of all idolatry is that the Lord alone is God. There are no other gods on earth that are worthy of even a tiny shred of our attention. This is indisputable and reiterated countless times throughout God's Word. This warning is what condemns the old Israel to never get their land back without a true surrender back to the one true God. This punishment that I still believe to be in effect today without a complete turning to Christ. I share Paul's anguish and sorrow for the people there who spit toward followers of the one true God. It seems it hasn't gotten any better when it comes to rejection of Jesus and I certainly would not want anyone to be on the punishing end of rejecting Christ. Severe and overt idolatry reeks from the Middle East with Judaism and Islam. I pray for the people down there to find Christ and for the protection of the very few who have found Christ while the rest wreak havoc out of pure hatred of the other group using the powerful armies of larger nations such as Iran and the United States. It's death that can be attributed to nothing less than the rejection of God by two peoples; a rejection of God that is on the rise within our nation as well.

I pray for revival within our churches, local communities, and the greater state as a whole. A revival back toward the truth that our God is the one true God and hearts that are completely consumed by the fire of our God is the only way that anything can be repaired. God reminds us at the end of this condemnation of the old Israel for rejecting Him that He is a forgiving God who will always be there for those who come back to Him. God never loses those that He has a hold over and never breaks a promise. We can rest in the comfort of that promise to keep us.