I’ve spent the last week thinking about Moses, writing Bible study from Numbers and Deuteronomy. At the end of the week I can honestly say that I don’t think I’ve ever been so impressed before, at the timelessness of Scripture. Deuteronomy describes events that occurred sometime around 1400 B.C. and the words are as relevant today as they were then. Moses is about to die and God wants to make sure the Israelites are prepared for what is ahead. So Moses “retells” the Laws, repeating what he had taught them before about God and his commands. To sum up most of Moses’ writing into one sentence: God wants to be the boss of you!
I put it that way for a reason. Remember when you saw a child, with hands on hips, stomp a foot and say, “You’re not the boss of me!” That is a decent picture of human nature -vs – God. And it has been that way since Eve said, “Ok…I’ll have a bite.” And we all know how that worked out. Why is God so bossy? For the same reason every mom or dad is bossy. We want the very best for our kids, and we know that if we don’t parent them, they won’t have a great life. Here are the reasons that Moses gave for why God is so bossy:
1. so that it might go well with you and your children forever! (Deuteronomy 5:29)
2. “so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God and live. . .so that you may enjoy long life.” (Deuteronomy 6:2)
3. “so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Deuteronomy 6:3)
4. “so that we might always prosper and be kept alive” (Deuteronomy 6:24)
5. “God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” (Deuteronomy 7:6)
6. “You will be blessed more than any other people” (Deuteronomy 7:14)
When I was in college I heard the phrase, “Don’t drink, don’t dance, don’t chew and don’t go with guys that do.” I wondered if God worked on a percentage basis where all of that was concerned! Those outside the church, and frankly – a lot of those in the church – think faith in God is about “not” doing this or that. Faith is really about why we don’t do this or that. And the simple answer to why is this: God wants to give all of us the best life we can possibly have, now and ultimately for eternity. God is bossy because he wants to spare us the messes he KNOWS we are going to get into – apart from his plan.
Moses looked at those people, who were about to enter the Promised Land and told them to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:4). Moses told them to keep God’s commandments on their hearts, impress them on their children, talk about them ALL the time, and put reminders of those commands all over! (That is the Janet Denison version of Deuteronomy 6:4-9.) In other words, fill you life with God because you love him and because you want to do what is right in his eyes. Be confident that God is directing you by his word and by his Holy Spirit because he wants the best for you – all the time.
I remember trying to get one of my boys to swallow that horrible pink medicine that the doctor had prescribed. I had to be boss – I loved that boy too much not to be. Why is God bossy? Because he adores his kids and wants the best for them now – and eternally. Aren’t you glad God is the boss of you?
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