A Holy Covenant Relationship
All of our study this week in Deuteronomy, starting in Deuteronomy 26:17 and continuing through Deuteronomy 29, reminds me of a wedding ceremony. You can hear it in the language of the scriptures:
17 You have declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws—that you will listen to him. 18 And the Lord has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised
9 Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Be silent, Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the Lord your God.
10 All of you are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God—your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, 11 together with your children and your wives, and the foreigners living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water. 12 You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God, a covenant the Lord is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, 13 to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
I believe this analogy is fitting. God wants an intimate relationship with you and with me. He actually wants a vow larger than a wedding vow. A wedding vow lasts for a lifetime. God’s desired relationship lasts for eternity. God’s commitment in His covenant is you will be His and He will be yours.
As we grow in our relationship with God we see and understand more of Him. More time in the Word also builds a closer relationship with God and opens our eyes to His nature and attributes. As God reveals Himself to us, that revelation is something that can never be taken away. God wants to continue to reveal the secret things, the things we cannot understand without first understanding who God is. Each of those “things revealed” is a gift, an everlasting gift. Our mind may not be able to fully understand all of who God is, but that doesn’t mean it is something that is held as a secret from us, it is just something we cannot yet understand. If someone were to ask me a question about Quantum Physics, I wouldn’t know enough to begin the conversation. Yet, someone who has spent their life in study of it may grow in their appreciation of how much there is yet that we don’t know or understand. God is bigger and deeper than quantum physics, yet, like an amazingly patient teacher, each day He is willing to teach us more about Himself.
My Answers:
7.
13. confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you
8.
Idolatry
9.
a.
God’s judgments and His paths
b.
The law, the covenants, God’s love and mercy
c.
God’s warnings to His people out of His love for them. God’s patience. God’s willingness to listen to prayer, that God is approachable. The correct posture for obedience: up/worship, around/love, down/fear of God.
The Notes are Good 