An Old Testament Devotion for the Anxious Covenant Child’s Heart
And God spoke all these words, saying,
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
In Exodus, God spoke these words right before He gave Israel the Ten Commandments. Now, the fact that He said these words before He gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments might not seem important at first. But the fact that He said them before the Ten Commandments is actually important because it changes the way we understand the Commandments themselves.
It teaches us about His love.
Sadly, a lot of people think Christianity is only about rules. They think that Christians spend their whole lives trying to obey God so they can go to Heaven. These people also often think God is a big meanie in the sky, just waiting for us to break His rules so He can send us to Hell. But these short verses tell us differently.
Notice that God reminded the Israelites of what He had already done for them before He gave them His rules. He was basically saying, “Look at the ways I have already loved you. I have already made you My people. I defeated the most powerful military in the world to save you.” (Because Egypt was the most powerful nation in the world at that time, and God had literally just drowned the Egyptian army to stop them from enslaving the Israelites again.) God was reminding His people that He loved them dearly and had chosen them already. Before they ever obeyed or disobeyed His Commandments.
And the Israelites would most certainly disobey them.
We know from reading Genesis that before Moses even brought the Ten Commandments down the mountain, the Israelites had already gotten bored of waiting for him to finish his meeting with God. So they betrayed God by ordering Aaron—Moses’s brother—to create an idol for them. Then they tried to steal God’s glory by proclaiming that it was the idol who had brought them out of Egypt. Then they worshiped the idol.
Despite all the love God had just shown them—saving them from slavery and promising to save them from their sins—they coveted God’s authority to make and break the rules—just like Adam and Eve had done.
Just as we often do today.
Instead of honoring and obeying God, we also often get frustrated that He gives us rules to follow. We ignore the truth that God gives us rules for our own good. But He gives us rules because He already loves us. Gods laws show us our need for God, so we can learn about Him, and so we can learn how to love Him through obedience.
But God, knowing all the ways His children would disobey Him, still chose to love the Israelites anyway. Knowing they would choose to forget Him, He told Moses to remind His disobedient people of all He had done for them, and that He was still their God, and that they were still His people.
In the same way, He reminds us that He is our God—even when we disobey. The law of God is not meant for us to use to get to Heaven. Because no matter how hard we try to be good and obedient, we can’t use it to get into Heaven. We’re too sinful. All it takes is one little sin to ruin our souls forever. And because we are Adam’s children, we sin all the time. It’s in our very nature to sin. Just as it was in the Israelites’ nature to sin.
So what does God want us to do with the law if we’re just going to break it?
In John 14:15, Jesus says,
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
God uses the Ten Commandments to show us our sin. He uses the law to teach us how to be more like Him, and He finally uses the law to show us how to love Him and how to love one another. Thank the Lord that God does not choose to save people based on their obedience to His commandments! If He did, none of us would be saved!
God chose the Israelites to be His people before He even gave them the Law—just as He has chosen people like you and me to be part of His family through adoption, as we see in Ephesians 1:4-5.
In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ…
God didn’t choose to adopt us because we’re naturally obedient and faithful, but because He is merciful. In the same way God chose the Israelites to be His people so He could show them mercy, He chose children like you to be His so He could show you mercy and love.
So rest in peace tonight, child of God. God’s love does not rely on your obedience. It rests on the obedience Jesus carried out for you through His perfect life, death, and resurrection. So trust in Jesus to forgive your sins and sleep in peace tonight.
You are greatly loved.
Discussion Questions
1. Does God love us because we keep His commandments?
2. If we can’t keep the law perfectly, why should we even try?
3. How does God’s law teach us to love God and others?
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