Daily Manna: Total Obedience Demanded

Sunday 01, September 2013

TEXT: DEUTERONOMY 4:1-13

KEY VERSE: “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you” (Deuteronomy 4:2).

When Leonard Wood, a physician who served as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, visited the King of France, he got a special invitation to have a dinner with him the next day. A man of innate humility, Wood gladly honoured the invitation without formal expression. But the king, who was taken aback when he saw him, asked: “Why, Sir Leonard? I did not expect to see you. How is it that you are here?” Wood was surprisingly embarrassed and queried: “Did not your majesty invite me to dine with you?” The king replied: “Yes, but you did not answer my invitation.” Then, Wood uttered: “A king’s invitation is never to be answered, but to be obeyed.”

This is the thrust of the matter - total obedience to God’s commandment. Moses knew the heartbeat of God and he made it clear to the Israelites. He reminded them of an event in their history which precisely was recorded in Numbers chapter 25, where people strayed away from God and started worshipping a false god called Baal at Peor. Some of the men went to commit whoredom with the Moabite women. Consequently, many died as a result of the plague the Lord sent among them; while others were killed by the priests. But those who did not worship Baal were kept alive.

To avoid the reoccurrence of such a catastrophe, Moses implored the Israelites to obey God’s commandment without exception, maintaining that it was only then that they would remain alive in their new country. Their obedience, he equally emphasised, would prove to other nations that they had a great God.

The passage is instructive because even though the Israelites were a God-chosen people, God could not compromise His commandment. Today, many people delight themselves in the euphoria of being members of one Christian denomination or the other without any clear conviction of living a holy life. We should bear in mind that obedience to God cannot be compromised.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Obedience begets blessings.

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