I love when God speaks to me in my personal devotional time. Part of my reading this morning was in Deuteronomy 6. Israel is getting ready to go into the Promised Land, and Moses is recounting the journey that got them to this point, reminding them of where they have been and where they are going, and establishing laws and rules to live by as they move in.
Verse 4 is probably well known to most of you. It was the lyrics of a devotional song that I sang growing up, and some of you may know it as “The Shema.”
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”
We are talking about El Kanna this week, our jealous God. We established yesterday that He is the ONE God, and our affection, our loyalties, our worship, and our attention should not be split between Him and any other person, place, or thing.
I think most of us want to do that. We want to be engrossed in God’s word, we want Him to be the center of our lives and of our homes, and we want to worship Him only. But how do we do that? What does that look like?
Good news, scripture tells us, just keep reading.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 13-15
“Listen, Israel: Yahweh is our Elohim. Yahweh is the only God. Love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words that I give you today. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you’re at home or away, when you lie down or get up. Write them down, tie them around your wrist, and wear them as headbands as a reminder. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and your gates.
You must fear Yahweh your Elohim, serve him, and take your oaths only in his name. Never worship any of the gods worshiped by the people around you. If you do, Yahweh your Elohim will become very angry with you and will wipe you off the face of the earth, because Yahweh your Elohim, who is with you, is El Kanna.”
Now, I have done pretty well with the “write them on your houses part.” I have scripture all over the place. But what I think I could and should do better at is having it as part of my everyday language, especially with my kids. Yes, we do Bible lessons. We go over the memory verse for the month every night at dinner; we have a nightly devotional at dinner, but is it a part of my daily conversations with them? Is my correction of them out of frustration or backed up in scripture? Can I correct with a word from God? Instead of “STOP WHINING!” (in a loud, frustrated tone because they have been whining constantly for the past hour), maybe I should remind them that whining is not acceptable in our home because Jesus doesn’t like it, and be able to quote Philippians 2:14 to them.
I am not saying beat your kids over the head with scripture to the point that they end up turning from it when they are older. What I mean is, explain why something isn’t tolerated in our home and back it up with scripture. Explain that we love God so much that we don’t want to hurt him with our actions, and what they are doing is “breaking his heart,” as my kids would say. God gave us these kids to raise and to raise in Him and for Him. The sooner I start instilling His word in Him, the better.
My kids hear me sing. ALL. THE. TIME. in the kitchen. I have mentioned before that that is where I worship God. There have been times when they come in and question me because tears are streaming down my face, times when they have to touch me because my eyes are closed and hands are lifted, and times when they know the song and sneak in and sing along (those are my favorite times). God, His word, His law, and His love must be a part of your everyday life.
For today, I’m going to start working scripture into my everyday conversations. I spend all day with my kids, so that is where I am starting. Not just when I discipline, but when we talk about how nice of a day it is, I am going to remind them that God created all that we see. (Just last night, as I was putting the girls to bed, SarahBeth said, “Mom, what did God make on day 1?” “Did he make everything?” “Did he make our house? ”)
Does El Kanna know that you love him? Are you making it apparent that your loyalty is to him? Do you covet your relationship with him as much as he does with you? Is your everyday conversation one that is filled with God and what he is doing in your life?
These are the questions I’m mulling over today.
I’ll unpack more of this verse tomorrow. I had a four-page post written and realized that I should probably break it up so you don’t use up all of your screen time reading my ramblings. 😆
Have a great day with Jesus!
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