The Meaning of God’s Law: Deuteronomy 6 (4)

Opening Prayer: Psalm 19.7, 8
The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes…

Psalm 19.7, 8
(St. Christopher: Beneath the Cross of Jesus)
The Law of God is perfect, His testimony sure.
The simple man God’s wisdom learns, the soul receives its cure.
God’s Word is right, and His command is pure, and truth imparts;
He makes our eyes to understand; with joy He fills our hearts.

Today’s Text: Deuteronomy 6.16-19

Preparation
1. What were the people of Israel guilty of at Massah? What does that mean?

2. What promise did God set before the people?

Meditation
Do we wonder what is good and upright (NKJV: “right and good”) in the eyes of God? Do we wish to please Him? To live according to His original plan for us? Then we must seek to lay hold on what God has promised to us by diligently keeping His Law. This was His Word to Israel, and it remains His Word to His people today (cf. 1 Jn. 2.1-6).

Israel “tested” God (v. 16; cf. Ex. 17.1-6) by doubting His promise to provide for them. Instead of waiting patiently on Him, and obeying His Word, they complained and cast doubts on His love for them. We won’t realize His promises this way.

The mention here of “upright” and “good” is clearly intended to point us back to Genesis 1 and 2. In the beginning people were “upright” (Eccl. 7.29), and this has clear spiritual and moral implications. Adam and Eve were blessed with a perfect, albeit not complete, relationship with God; and they were a blessing to one another by their mutual love and complementary personalities, gifts, and interests. The Law directs us in what is “good” and “upright”, that is, what is morally and spiritually in line with God’s original plan for us (cf. Gen. 1.31; Eccl. 7.29). The “good land” (earth, the world) was for Israel what the Garden was for Adam and Eve. And it is a type of all the precious and very great promises God holds out to us in Jesus (2 Pet. 1.4).

The key to gaining the promises is to wait on the Lord and walk in the path marked out by His Law. God is with us as we do, to overcome all our enemies (v. 19) and to set us down, good and upright, in the promises of life that are ours through Jesus Christ.

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
These promises are ours in Christ Jesus because He kept the Law. When Satan was trying to get Him to test God, Jesus answered him this way: “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God’” (Lk. 4.12). Period. End of discussion. Case closed. God wants us to put an end to the chatter in the same way: “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (Jms. 4, 7, 8). This effort in obedience is the key to the promises of God.

Reflection
1. How would you explain the meanings of “upright” and “good”?

2. Why does it matter to us that Jesus fulfilled the Law of God?

3. How can you know when you’re beginning to “tempt” the Lord? What should you do then?

As we have already seen, unbelief was the fountain and cause of the tempting in Massah, for when the people neither relied on God's providence nor rested on His paternal love, they burst forth into impatience, and at length advanced so far as to think that God was not with them, unless He complied with their wicked lusts. We perceive, then, that God cannot be rightly worshipped unless when He has His peculiar attributes acknowledged. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Deuteronomy 6.16

Keep Your promises before my mind, Lord, and lead me in Your good and upright paths today as I…

Closing Prayer: Psalm 19.9-14
Thank God for His Law, and for all His Word, and pray over the day ahead, that you might realize His Presence, promises, and power with you in all you do.

Psalm 19.9-14
(St. Christopher: Beneath the Cross of Jesus)
The fear of God is cleansing, forever shall it last.
His judgments all are true and just, by righteousness held fast.
O seek them more than gold most fine, than honey find them sweet.
Be warned by every word and line; be blessed with joy complete.

Who, Lord, can know his errors? O keep sin far from me!
Let evil rule not in my soul that I may blameless be.
O let my thoughts, let all my words, before Your glorious sight
Be pleasing to You, gracious Lord, acceptable and right!

T. M. and Susie Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from Church Fathers from Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy: Ancient Christian Commentary Series III, Joseph T. Lienhard, S. J. ed. in collaboration with Ronnie J. Rombs, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001). All quotations from John Calvin from John Calvin, Commentaries on The Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Order of A Harmony, Rev. Charles William Bingham M. A., tr. and ed. (Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society, 1863. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).