Thought from today’s Bible reading from Deuteronomy 3-4.
“You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.
“Your eyes have seen what the Lord has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who followed Baal-peor, the Lord your God has destroyed them from among you. But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you” (Deuteronomy 4:2-4).
The Israelites were given a simple instruction: keep God’s commandments. They were not to add to His commandments. They were not to omit any of His commandments. They were simply to do those things which He had instructed them to do.
In addition to telling the people this, Moses also reminded them of the fact that God had shown the willingness and the ability to punish those who fail to keep His commandments. He cited the example of Baal-peor (cf. Numbers 25:1-9). Those who followed the false god were destroyed. Those who held fast to the Lord remained.
This ought to remind us that our obedience to God is a serious matter. We are not under the same law today as the Israelites were, but we do have a pattern that has been given which must be followed (2 Timothy 1:13). Do not add anything to it. Do not leave anything out of it. Simply follow the pattern and God’s instructions completely and faithfully.
If we obey God, we will be saved (Hebrews 5:9). If we fail to obey God, we will be lost (2 Thessalonians 1:8).
Tomorrow’s reading: Deuteronomy 5-7
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
