Far Be it from Us – Fifth Commandment

Far Be it from Us

Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16

“Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”

1 Samuel 12.23

“Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and right way.”

Intercede and Instruct

The people of Israel had just made a monumental blunder. They had rejected the counsel of God and His prophet and had requested a king, so that they could be like all the other nations. They were happy to be thought of as the people of God. They just didn’t want to live by His guidelines. They wanted to be like the nations around them and find their security and prosperity in political rather than spiritual power. But even though they were stubborn and the king they had chosen was doomed to failure, Samuel committed himself to pray for the people and their king and to instruct them in the good and right way. Here is excellent guidance for believers today in considering how to honor the President and other civil magistrates. We must not fail to pray for them, seeking the blessing of God on all their decisions and endeavors. And we must look for ways to continue to inject the good and right way of God’s Law into all matters of public policy. In our conversations with one another, our Bible study groups, in casual interactions with neighbors and co-workers, we must hold up the goodness of God and His Law, encourage one another in prayer for the government and the nation, and salt our words with insights from the Lord, if by any means we might influence others to embrace the good and right way for themselves.

What opportunities for instructing others in the good and right way will you have this week? Are you prepared to make the most of them?

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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.