DEUTERONOMY 7
6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 10 and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. 11 You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.
– Deuteronomy 7:6-11
DEUTERONOMY 7 IF YOU LOVE YOU CAN COMMIT
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
The Lord God loves you and is committed to stay faithful
Because of that love, he will never abandon you
If you were chosen by him, you will be able to love him back
He is the giver of everything including your ability to love
If you love God, you will commit to serve and obey him
That is the sign that you are renewed to resist sin.
This account written by Moses was about God’s command to the Israelites to conquer the land that he had promised his people. They were instructed by God to completely annihilate the Canaanites and prohibited them from yoking with them so they can be pure and holy as God intended them to be. Do you ever wonder why God didn’t just give them the Promised land that had no inhabitants in it? I think that God has provided everything for them when he freed them out of the land of Egypt and throughout their journey in the wilderness. Since God made a covenant with them, they had a part to play in the relationship. God has equipped all his people with all the abilities to conquer these pagans, so the part that Israel was required to do as part of this agreement was to obey God’s laws and instructions so that they can finally occupy the land that was promised to them. God isn’t an enabler and a spoiler. He had to teach them to depend on him, but the obedience and trust was what was expected of them. But we know how this story went; they disobeyed God and mixed themselves with the pagans. This resulted in their unfaithfulness to God by serving the other pagan gods of those whom they intermarried.
Moses reminds them of the faithful and steadfast love that God has for his people and how God keeps his promises to them. Their obedience and loyalty are what is expected of them.
REFLECTION
· How do you manifest your commitment as a child of God?
