“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
These words from Deuteronomy 6: 5-9 list the greatest commandment from God to the people of Israel. The occasion was just before they were to cross over into the land given to them by the Lord. These words use strong and repetitive language to convey the desire of God to the children of Israel that He wanted His Word to be a priority.
We read also in the book of Joshua where God tells Joshua, following after the death of Moses, to be courageous and above all to keep the Book. He was not to depart from it to the left nor to the right; “Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:7-8).
God is emphatic in this command to “not let the word depart from your mouth”. In other words, Joshua is not to have any thought expressed that is not according to the Book of the Law. He is to speak, and his speech is to mirror the word of God.
Do we keep the Book? Do we let the Word depart from our mouths? Do we teach the words diligently to our children? When we walk by the way? When we lie down, and when we rise up?
For the elders, Tony Williams