Exodus 20.2, 3

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”

Deuteronomy 5.6, 7

“‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.’”

Psalm 73.25; Romans 1.21-25

To “have” God is to do so conscious of His presence with us, and us with Him. God keeps His people and all their doings “before His face.” Everything is open to the eye of Him with Whom we have to do (1 Pet. 3.12; Heb. 4.13). All human beings are continuously in His sight, benefiting from His steadfast love and faithfulness.

Moreover, God guards His people continually and never sleeps (Ps. 121). Thus, they should be mindful of taking unto themselves anything other than God as objects of devotion and trust, for He will certainly see, and, in mercy and love, He will certainly act to discipline His wayward children in order to bring them back to the paths of holiness and love He has marked out for them in His Law (Heb. 12.7-12).

Further, they who would “have God” should work to know as fully as possible the presence of God, and to live before Him in such a way as to honor and please Him. We exist “before” Him and should demonstrate our love for Him by the way we conduct our everyday lives.

God takes His people unto Himself, devoting Himself to their entire care and provision; He expects similar devotion in return from a people who are grateful to exist, to be sustained and provided for, to have been redeemed, and to have been constituted as a special people unto the Lord of heaven and earth (1 Pet. 2.9, 10).

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In the Gates