There is a song that we were recently introduced to in which the first line goes, “I keep falling in love with Him, Over and over and over and over again.” In today’s scripture reading service, Larry has chosen some text that focus on that very thing: timely for me, and I suspect will be for all of us.
The first text chosen is Deuteronomy 6:1-25 where we find the greatest of all the commandments, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (v4, note Mark 12:29-31). For the Christian, “we love Him because He first loved us” (1st John 4:19). That love we come to know, exhibited through Christ, moves us forward in service to our King (2nd Corinthians 5:14).
Oh, how easily we forget. Just last week I went to the store with list in hand and when I got home, I realized I forgot something. The second reading, found in Deuteronomy 8:1-20, encourages God’s people not to forget Him. I found these words interesting, “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today…” (Deuteronomy 8:11). As Christians, we have a list if you will, of things God calls us to do. When we seek to learn of and abide in His will, we too will have less of a chance to forget Him and what He has and continues to do for us.
Our third reading today is found in Deuteronomy 11:1-32. In this text we read of how, after wandering for forty years in the dessert, the children entering the promise land “have not known and who have not seen the chastening of the Lord your God” (v2) along with His mighty acts when He freed them from Egypt. It would be those who were older and witnessed these things that would pass them along. It would help to remind God’s people of the importance of loving God through obedience and how He will care for us as we do.
With love as our driving force, we seek to be mindful of Him, doing His will in all that we say and do. This brings us, appropriately, to our last two text. In Psalm 1:1-6, we read about someone whose “delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.” (v2) He does so, as our last reading reveals, because “happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding.” (Proverbs 3:1-18)
As I reflect on these scriptures, I am reminded of the importance of working on my relationship with God, as He works on it with me. This pursuit, if you will, may involve falling in love with Him anew, looking once again to the cross of Christ. This will help us not to forget Him and remind us why obedience is so critical to our journey homeward, as we are guided by His wisdom. Guide us home Lord, guide us home.
Dennis
