Walking with God in Submission to His Laws
Introduction. One of the most fundamental aspects of our relationship with God is summed up in the question: “Can two walk together unless they have agreed?” God asked this question of Israel to help them see that because they did not agree with His laws they could not walk with Him. “You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.” (Deut. 13:4) For all eternity God has walked a path of righteousness and holiness. God honored Israel above all nations by revealing that path to them on Mt. Sinai and through the Law of Moses. Their attitude toward His Law determined the path they walked.
When they found these laws difficult or confining, it revealed just how far they had strayed from His path and just how lost they were. Only by following His Law could they find their way back. He warned Israel again and again that if they wanted to walk with Him, they would have to love and trust all His laws. "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply" (Deut. 30:15-16). Unfortunately, not only did they become lost in the wilderness of ignorance, but also changed God from a friend into an adversary. If “you walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you (Lev. 26:23-24)
Do we trust Jesus? Does the grace of the gospel change this? Is it now easy to walk with God and if we miss a turn here and there, we will still be on the path? Jesus said “no!” “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Mt. 7:14). How could this path be so narrow and hard to find? Why is it so difficult to remain upon? Because the same rules apply to Christians as to Israel. The gospel is also like a GPS, guiding and directing each turn. But if we ignore the directions and refuse to carefully weigh each step, we will stray from the path and be lost. Each decision leads to a step and each step leads to a destination. Only by carefully studying God’s word can we continue to move in the right direction.
Although God asked Israel to walk this path with Him, they refused. “Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls.’ But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” (Jer. 6:16). Why would they refuse to walk with God? Why would they seek their own path leading to destruction?
Conclusion. The quality of life God lives in heaven with all the angelic host is a path of love, generosity and fairness. The world we live in lacks many of these things. If we want to walk with Him, we must follow His standards of right and equity. All the emotions of love, mercy, and compassion should fill our own heart, and we should hate sin and injustice as much as He does. When our heart mirrors His, we are moving in the right direction. When His goals and purposes fill our soul to the brim, we are walking with Him. When God “found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will,” He chose Him to lead Israel and “after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep” (Acts 13:22, 36). This is what God seeks from all of us. God rejected Eli’s house because he “honored your sons more than Me,” then concluded with another fundamental truth: “those who honor Me I will honor.” What God wanted was someone who “shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind.” (1Sam. 2:29-30, 35). Everyone who finds this appealing and seeks it with all their heart and soul will be in fellowship with God their entire life.
- “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known." (Deut 11:26-28).
When they found these laws difficult or confining, it revealed just how far they had strayed from His path and just how lost they were. Only by following His Law could they find their way back. He warned Israel again and again that if they wanted to walk with Him, they would have to love and trust all His laws. "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply" (Deut. 30:15-16). Unfortunately, not only did they become lost in the wilderness of ignorance, but also changed God from a friend into an adversary. If “you walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you (Lev. 26:23-24)
Do we trust Jesus? Does the grace of the gospel change this? Is it now easy to walk with God and if we miss a turn here and there, we will still be on the path? Jesus said “no!” “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Mt. 7:14). How could this path be so narrow and hard to find? Why is it so difficult to remain upon? Because the same rules apply to Christians as to Israel. The gospel is also like a GPS, guiding and directing each turn. But if we ignore the directions and refuse to carefully weigh each step, we will stray from the path and be lost. Each decision leads to a step and each step leads to a destination. Only by carefully studying God’s word can we continue to move in the right direction.
Although God asked Israel to walk this path with Him, they refused. “Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls.’ But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” (Jer. 6:16). Why would they refuse to walk with God? Why would they seek their own path leading to destruction?
Conclusion. The quality of life God lives in heaven with all the angelic host is a path of love, generosity and fairness. The world we live in lacks many of these things. If we want to walk with Him, we must follow His standards of right and equity. All the emotions of love, mercy, and compassion should fill our own heart, and we should hate sin and injustice as much as He does. When our heart mirrors His, we are moving in the right direction. When His goals and purposes fill our soul to the brim, we are walking with Him. When God “found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will,” He chose Him to lead Israel and “after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep” (Acts 13:22, 36). This is what God seeks from all of us. God rejected Eli’s house because he “honored your sons more than Me,” then concluded with another fundamental truth: “those who honor Me I will honor.” What God wanted was someone who “shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind.” (1Sam. 2:29-30, 35). Everyone who finds this appealing and seeks it with all their heart and soul will be in fellowship with God their entire life.
- And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. Deut 6:24