How To Love God 101
Two stories are told of God and his
people Israel in Exodus. The first story
is of how God frees his people from slavery.
The second is God imparting the Ten Commandments to his people. This shows what may seem to be two
extremes. God first free Israel as a
knight would save a princess, but then surrounds Israel with his own laws and
decrees. Do these themes of liberation
and covenant contradict each other? This
is not a story of God freeing his people then setting boundaries for them. Exodus is a story of how God shows his people
how to love and have a relationship with him.
In Exodus 19:5-8(English Standard
Version) a covenant is made between God and his people:
5Now therefore,
if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my
treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6and
you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words
that you shall speak to the people of Israel."
7So Moses came and called the elders of the people and
set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him. 8 All
the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we
will do." And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD.
God is not saying, “Do this or I
will smite you.” God is offering his
blessing to Israel much like a man proposes to a woman. The woman is free to reject the proposal, but
once she says her wedding vows she is in a contract of how she will show her
love to her husband. “If you… obey my
voice and keep my covenant…” God offers his blessing and “showing steadfast love to thousands of
those who love me and keep my commandments (Exodus 20:6). “ It takes hard work to not lie, steal, covet,
and to not put other things before God.
As a jealous God, God wanted to be remembered in his people’s day-to-day
lives. The Ten Commandments were like
little love notes that reminded Israel of him. “In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to
you and bless you (Exodus 20:24b).” It
is important to remember that following the Ten Commandments would not save
Israel from their sin. The covenant that
God made did not promise that, but that following the covenant would improve
their relationship with God.
As humans we have much experience
with human relationships. Problems need
to be worked out and communication is a key factor that takes effort. Yet as humans relate to different people
differently, so Israel could not relate to God the same way the other nations
related to their gods. Just a husband
and wife have to show each other how to best relate to each other God showed
his people how to best relate to him.
