Read: Deuteronomy 4:1-49; Luke 6:39-7:10; Psalm 68:1-18; Proverbs 11:28
I have to remind myself that Moses is talking to the children who had stood at Mt. Sinai and were probably scared to death as they felt the earth quake and saw the lightning and thunder and the fire on top of the mountain. They had heard the voice of God speak out loud. It had to have made a lasting impression on them. Although, they were quite forgetful as we all are.
God told them that his laws were so wise and fair that other nations would be amazed. Our Founding Fathers of America wrote our Constitution based on the laws of the Bible. We are looked at with envy by the people of other nations. Right now we are in a battle to protect our freedoms and laws. There are laws that we have added that need to be eradicated, but God is raising up lawmakers who are doing that very thing. We need to pray that they prevail.
God was very specific about them not making a graven image to represent him. In Hebrews 1:3, the writter of Hebrews wrote that Jesus was the “express image” of God’s person. “Express image” means a graven copy. Jesus was the graven image of God. He did not want them to make something they thought he would look like because they would never make something to look like Jesus. God didn’t want them to have any preconceived notions of what Jesus would look like so they wouldn’t miss him when he came. Sadly, many did miss him when he came because they had images in their head and Jesus did not match their images. We are guilty of doing the same thing when we imaging what God should do in our lives. When he doesn’t do it our way, we get discouraged and it affects our faith. God wants us to totally trust him because we can not imagine his great plan. His ways are beyond our imagination.
Moses tried to imprint on their minds and hearts how special they were that God would chose them, reveal himself to them and personally deliver them from their bondage and give them a new land of their own. Isn’t that the perfect picture of what God has done for us! He reminded them that God was in heaven and on earth and there is no other god than him. All they had to do was to obey his commands and they would have a good long life.
In Luke, Jesus told his disciples that they would never be greater than him but they could be like him. What a great promise! Jesus went on to explain that we grow fruit from allowing Jesus to change our hearts. Fruit grows from our heart. Then he demonstrated it.
There was a Roman officer who had good fruit in his heart. He sent some respected Jewish elders to ask Jesus to heal his slave who was sick. He even sent news to Jesus that he was not worthy of a visit to his house, but if he would send healing by his word, it would be enough. Jesus marveled at his faith and sent his word and the slave was healed. This man had a heart of compassion and faith.
Lord, help us to have a heart full of fruit. Thank you for delivering us out of our bondage and giving us freedom.
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