“Therefore, you are to love Adonai your God and always obey his commission, regulations, rulings and mitzvot.“-Deuteronomy 11:1
Chapter 11 starts off with the foundational rule Israel is to obey if they decide to enter into a covenant relationship with HASHEM.
That foundational rule can be summed up in the following four words: “Love Adonai your God…“.
And what’s interesting is that immediately after the instruction to “Love Adonai your God“, Israel is told to always OBEY the Lord’s laws, rules and commandments.
In other words, the definition of “to love God” equals “obeying His commands“.
Now there is a subtle yet very important difference between Deuteronomy chapters 10 and 11 that I want you to catch.
Chapter 10 was all about the acceptance or rejection of God’s invitation to enter into a covenant relationship with Him.
Chapter 11 deals with the terms and conditions (both individually and corporately) of the covenant IF Israel agrees to accept the covenant.
This is quite a big difference.
Let me give you an example.
I recently entered into a new contract for a high-speed mobile pocket wifi.
Before enrolling, first I received a phone call from the customer service representative who qualified me to make sure I was eligible to enroll and only then was I invited to enter into the program.
This is kind of what Deuteronomy Chapter 10 was all about, basically God inviting Israel to enter into a relationship with Him.
Onward.
After I told the customer service representative I was interested, the terms and conditions of the contract were explained to me and what would happen if I ever violated the contract.
It turns out if I ever decided to cancel my 3-year contract prematurely, I would have to pay a cancellation fee of about 20,000 yen (approximately $200).
This is what Deuteronomy 11 is all about: laying out the terms and conditions of the contract.
Again, as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Israel had every right to reject the covenant without consequence if they decided they didn’t want to accept its terms and conditions.
There would have been no obligations and no penalties placed on Israel at that point because there never was an agreed-to deal.
However, if Israel of their own free-will decided to accept the terms of God’s covenant, then everything would have changed and they would have become subjected to both the blessings and the curses attached to that covenant.
This is exactly what is happening here in chapter 11.
Israel has accepted God’s invitation and now the terms and conditions as well as the benefits and consequences are being laid out.
One thing I’m getting from this is that there is always a cost to enter into a relationship.
Any relationship whether it’s just a casual friendship or a marriage relationship comes with certain expectations from all parties involved and if those expectations aren’t properly defined and met, chaos can sometimes ensue.
So the takeaway here is be careful before entering into a relationship with anyone and be EXTRA CAREFUL before entering into a covenant relationship with the living God.
Make darn sure you understand what you are getting into BEFORE agreeing.
Because once you agree and sign on that dotted line so to speak, you become subject to ALL the terms and conditions of that particular covenant.
God will discipline His own!
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