The book of Deuteronomy
clearly lays out in its pages the foundation of our belief, why we must obey
God’s laws, and the reason we should follow Him. The following passages reveal without exclusion the
pre-eminence of our God. May we recite them often and meditate on them day and
night.
1.
“Observe them carefully, for this will show
your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these
decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding
people." What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the
way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to Him? And what other nation
is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I
am setting before you today?’ (4:6-8)
2.
“Has any god ever tried to take for himself one
nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by
war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds,
like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very
eyes? You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God;
besides Him there is no other.” (4:34-35)
3.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is
one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with
all your strength.” (6:4-5)
4.
“These commandments that I give you today are
to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you
sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you
get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” (6:6-9)
5.
“The Lord did not set His affection on you and
choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the
fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath
He swore to your forefathers that He brought you out with a mighty hand and
redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping
His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep
His commands.” (7:7-9)
6.
“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then
feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach
you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the
mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell
during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his
son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. Observe the commands of the Lord
your God, walking in His ways and revering Him.” (8:3-6)
7.
“And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God
ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him,
to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to
observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own
good?” (10:12-13)
8.
“It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the
eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year
to its end.” (11:12)
9.
“I will raise up for them a prophet like you
from among their brothers; I will put my words in His mouth, and He will tell
them everything I command Him.” (18:18)
10. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed
belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of
this law.” (29:29)
11. “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have
set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that
you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen
to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life, and He will give
you many years in the land He swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob.” (30:19-20)
12. “In a desert land He found him, in a barren and howling waste. He
shielded him and cared for him; He guarded him as the apple of His eye, like an
eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings
to catch them and carries them on its pinions. The Lord alone led him; no
foreign god was with him.” (32:10-12)
By: Esther Hung