The Ten Commandments begin with these words:
And God spoke all these things
But we rush past these words on our way to the do’s and don’ts, the commands which have been considered more burdensome than freeing.
How wrong we’ve been.
While meditating on Exodus 20 recently, I got stuck on these first words.
God’s speaking immediately draws my mind to Genesis 1 and creation. The power of God’s words brought forth everything from nothing. And so here in Exodus, at the new beginning of God’s relating to the people he has just freed, He speaks. An act of creation.
That God spoke to his people implies intimacy. He comes as the personal God of Israel, not as some stranger seeking blind allegiance. He comes with the desire to speak freedom, not slavery, to his people.
But the best thing is that God speaks from who He is. He speaks truth and life. We don’t have to untangle his words and wonder at his intentions. He speaks, and his words create. He is always creating in us, by his Spirit.
“…So it is with every word that goes out from my mouth; it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire, and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
(Isaiah 55:10).
“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
(Hebrews 4:12)
If only we could approach the Law with Jesus in the forefront of our minds. Jesus, the fulfiller of the Law. Jesus, the Living Word. The Word that creates new life in us and fulfills the righteous requirements of the Law in us.
Friends, when you read his Word is it alive in you? Is every God-breathed word held sacred in your heart?
Oh, that we would welcome the totality of God’s Word into our hearts on a daily basis. That we could submit to the action of his Word in our life and say, like Samuel,