Posted on 05/31/2008 6:51:15 AM PDT by alpha-8-25-02
Israel's Response to the Law's Demand Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, "All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient"... Today you have proclaimed the LORD to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will obey His voice. (Exodus 24:7; Deuteronomy 26:17) God's law demands wholehearted obedience. "This day the LORD your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deuteronomy 26:16). When the Israelites heard this summary requirement of the law, they confidently promised that they would obey. "Today you have proclaimed the LORD to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will obey His voice." Forty years earlier, when the Lord first gave His law to His people, they responded in a similar fashion. "Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, 'All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient'."
Their intentions were certainly commendable. However, their performance was definitely unacceptable. Even before they had departed from the mountain where the law was given, they plunged into disobedience. "They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it" (Exodus 32:8). Soon after the death of Joshua (who led them into the Promised Land), they repeatedly rebelled against the Lord their God. The book of Judges documents this clearly: "And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD" (3:12); "And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD" (4:1); "Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD" (6:1); "Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD" (10:6).
Twelve hundred years later, Stephen would summarize Israel's history of disobedience. "You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you" (Acts 7:51). What a sobering evaluation of those who were so confident of obeying the law of God.
Dear Father, I humbly bow before You, confessing that I am so often like the children of Israel. I confidently promise to live in obedience to Your will. Then, I quickly stray from Your path and indulge my own will. Thank You for Your forgiving grace. Yet, I earnestly cry out for more. I need Your transforming grace to renew my inner man unto increasing obedience to You, through Jesus, my Lord, Amen.
We ought not make promises that we cannot keep. We should strive to live in total obedience to his will, but if we promise that we will, we will be guilty not only of violating his will, but violating our promise to be in total obedience.
If you are going to make a promise to God, make one you know you can keep.
IIRC everyone who made a "promise" to Jesus ended up breaking that promise. All of the true promises spoken of in the New Testament are promises God has made to us, and we can rely on God's promises. I think it is presumptuous of us to pretend that we are capable of keeping our promises to him.
Heb 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Take that one to the bank.
A FINE READ.
GODSPEED!
An endorsement by Ted Haggard does not draw me to read a book.shalom b'SHEM Yah'shuaParticularly on Holiness !
Haggard may have recommended it, but I doubt he read it. John Piper gives a fairly nice recommendation. I'm willing to bet that John Piper read it.
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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