Guard God’s Law – The Kingdom Curriculum V (5)

Guard God’s Law

“You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20.3; Deuteronomy 5:17

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require 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 keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good.” Deuteronomy 10.12, 13

To “have” God is to guard His Law.

Persisting in the Law of God is foundational to having Him as our only God and King. The Lord commands us to “keep” His commandments and statutes. We have seen that this was the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles as well. That word, “keep,” is important. It literally means “to guard” and recalls one of the first mandates of God to men: “guard” the garden (Gn. 2:15).

Adam’s ability to keep the commandments God had given him depended on his preventing anything from coming into the garden that might jeopardize his obedience or distract him from his calling. The picture of what this word entails is dramatically portrayed after Adam and Eve were exiled from the garden, and an angel with a flaming sword was stationed at its entrance “to guard” the way against their returning.

Similarly, we who “have” the Lord as our God are called to “guard” His Law. We must learn to keep both His commandments and the supporting statutes of the Law which have abiding validity. But what can threaten the integrity of the Law of God? How about neglect? Misinterpretation (“I’m not under law; I’m under grace!”)? Misuse? The Law is meant to convict us of sin and teach us how to love God and our neighbors. Many, however, have used it to enslave others to their own views (as Paul’s opponents sought to do, Gal. 3:1-6). Our job, if we would have God be our God, is to guard His Law against all such threats and abuses.

This means we have to learn the Law, reading and meditating in it daily, and training our hearts to say with the Psalmist, “Oh how I love Your Law!” (Ps.119:97) We cannot guard what we do not know. We cannot love what we have not embraced. And the Law will not rule our consciences unto love for God and men until we fix it there and make it the cornerstone of all our walk with the Lord, as it is of all the Word of God.

Be sure to order your copy of The Law of God by going to www.MyParuchia.com and clicking on Publications, then Waxed Tablet. Begin to make daily reading and meditation in God’s Law part of your discipline of the Word (Ps. 94:12-15).

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.