Day 54, or February 23rd. Love God and keep His
commandments. Our thoughts today are from Deuteronomy
11, verse 1. Love the Lord your God and keep
His requirements, His decrees, His laws, and
His commands always. First, the big picture surrounding
this verse. Moses reminds the people that they
need to do what he's saying and not just listen
to him. He mentions a recent miracle that everyone
had experienced. During their wilderness wanderings,
none of their clothing or sandals wore out, and
they remained very comfortable for the whole
forty years. He also recalls breaking the two
tablets of stone upon which was written the Ten
Commandments. I'm sure he never forgot this act
of vandalism. They were of extreme value to him
and the people, and we can only dream of their
value today if they had survived. The children
of Israel are about to cross the Jordan River
into the Promised Land, and Moses stresses that
they must be faithful to God's word and put into
practice everything he is giving them from God's
law. Today's action step. Moses lays a heavy
emphasis on reading and studying the Word of
God. He tells the people, they're to love it.
It's not an option, any more than loving each
other is, if we take the words of Jesus seriously
in John 13 verse 34. Love each other, just as
I have loved you, you should love each other.
As we study something from the Bible each day,
it's worth remembering that this is not an optional
extra. We are commanded to do it. Within Judaism,
it was the norm to read all the works of your
rabbi many times. So remember, Jesus is our rabbi,
and so much more besides. This book covers highlights
through the whole Bible, and it is our prayer
that it will whet your appetite to take the next
step and read or listen to the Bible text too.
As a test, why not read the chapter which contains
the daily verse? Or you may prefer to listen
to the audio version of the Bible recorded by
the writer of this book.