The First Commandment

The First Commandment

Deuteronomy 10:12-22

“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?”

Second, the Lord requires that we walk in all His ways. The idea of “walking” gets at our normal, everyday routines, those activities and practices by which we sustain ourselves and make progress in our lives. God requires that, in all of these, we bring our practices into conformity with His “ways,” and He has revealed these to us in His Word, beginning with this Law. Paul says that in whatever we do we must seek to glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31). This is what the Lord requires of us.

But we must note that it is not always necessary for us to understand the ways of the Lord before we agree to walk in them. Indeed, it is too much to expect that we can (Is. 55:8, 9). Certainly we must understand His ways well enough in order to carry out what He requires. For this we must apply ourselves to reading, meditation, study, and conversation with other believers. But we need not understand His ways entirely before we consent to walk in them. For example, how can we understand the command to give thanks always and in everything, when trials, sorrows, and obstructions come in our path? Job’s mistake was failing to give thanks and rest in the grace and wisdom of God. Instead, he insisted on knowing what only God can know. We must strive to understand as far as we can the ways that God requires us to walk. But we must walk them in obedience, by faith in the wise and good counsel of our Redeemer and Lord.

In this series of In the Gates we present a detailed explanation of the Law of God, beginning with the Ten Commandments, and working through the statutes and rules that accompany each commandment. For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the practice of ethics, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.MyParuchia.com and click on our Book Store.

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