I am traveling on business and it’s been a long day…but the passage of Scripture I read this morning has been on my mind.  I’m still in Deuteronomy, but you will be glad to know that I have moved beyond Chapter 1.  I am now in Chapter 10 and, I must say, it just gets better and better.

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul …  –Deuteronomy 10:12

God is so good.  He doesn’t make us struggle to figure things out.  His expectations for His children are very clear.  As a child of God, what is expected of me?

1. Fear the Lord your God…It is very easy to fall into the habit of treating God like a kind, grandfather figure who comforts you and gives you good things.  I think that it is very interesting that following the question, “what does the Lord your God require of you?”, the very first item is…fear Him.  We forget that He is holy and powerful.  I am immediately reminded of the passage in Numbers 12 when Aaron and Miriam begin complaining and grumbling about Moses.  They did not like the fact that Moses married an Ethiopian woman and they also began to question whether the Lord spoke only through Moses.  The Lord became very angry.  He called the three of them out to the tabernacle of meeting.  The Lord acknowledges that, yes, He does speak to others in visions and dreams.  Not so with Moses…I speak with him face to face.  Don’t even get me started on how incredibly amazing that is to me.  Here is the part that struck me, though, and the part that ties in so well with Deuteronomy 10…Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?  Wow.  May I never underestimate the power and righteousness of God…
2. Walk in all His ways…The second requirement of a child of God is to follow Him.  We trust Him enough to follow His commandments…believing that He knows best.  We follow Him…even through a wilderness, fully trusting that our Promised Land will be well worth the journey.
3. Love Him…This just makes me smile.  God wants me to love Him.  Do I ever…it is an overwhelming thought that He calls me His beloved. 
4. Serve the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul…In this “what’s-in-it-for-me world,” we are called to be servants.  What is required of me?  Service.  So often, we have a very distorted view of service.  We all are happy to be servants when we are being patted on the back for being such good servants.  We smile, accept the accolades and sleep well because we have performed our acts of service.  My former, beloved pastor went to be with the Lord one year ago this Thursday.  I wrote a quote of his in my Bible a long time ago and have shared it many times because I just thought it was so profound.  The true test of a servant is if you act like one when you are treated like one.  Just think about that for a moment.  These Israelites had lived lives of slavery.  They knew what servitude meant.  They knew that servants were expected to serve.  There were no pats on the back…no words of appreciation…no “oh-you-shouldn’t-have”…servants served.  It was expected of them…and it’s expected of us.

If you have not heard this song by Chris Sligh…it is a must hear.  Everything is a lesser thing compared to You…