God’s Original Design for Our Lives
I want to share with you something that’s been on my heart. Sometimes it’s necessary for us to reset our lives back to the original factory settings. I’m not talking about just a reboot, because when you reboot, you usually get the same thing. Factory settings are what God placed is His design for us.
We need more than just a reboot; we need to get back to the basics of what God intended for us.
I’ve been reflecting on the life of Moses, especially his final days. Moses was around 120 years old, and he had been leading the Israelites through the desert for about 40 years. A whole generation had died off, and now a new generation was rising – one that had only heard stories of God’s miracles and laws. Moses felt the urgency to remind them of God’s Ten Commandments, not just as rules to follow but as a legacy to carry forward.
As they were on the brink of entering the Promised Land, Moses gathered everyone for what could be described as a giant family meeting. Moses understood that the younger generation might be tempted to forget the laws that had sustained their parents and grandparents in the wilderness.
In this meeting, Moses did what any good leader would do: he reminded them of where they had come from, where they were and where they were going. In this gathering, Moses revisited the Ten Commandments.
I think they are also important for us because God has good intentions for us. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (ESV).
So, Moses gets the people together and talks to them about The Ten Commandments. He rehearses for them, almost as though they may have forgotten them. Isn’t it interesting how we can forget? Even God’s children, who received The Ten Commandments from God Himself had to be reminded of what they were.
God has good intentions for you!
“And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today’” (Deuteronomy 5:1-3 ESV).
Moses is reminding them not to lose these things because they’re going to be essential for their future. And then he goes on to say, “I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord. For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. He said, ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery’” (Deuteronomy 5:5-6 ESV).
The Ten Commandments
1. You shall have no other gods before Me (v.7).
We violate that every day; the things we put before God.
2. Don’t make your own idols (v.8).
3. Don’t take the name of the Lord your God in vain (v.11).
We are so casual with God’s name today. They Israelites wouldn’t even say His name because it is so sacred and yet, it’s so casual today – even among Christians.
4. Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy (v.12).
5. “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you” (v 16).
6. You shall not murder (v.17).
7. You shall not commit adultery (v.18).
8. You shall not steal (v.19).
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (v.20).
10. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor (v.21).
So, why do I need to keep these ten commandments? Is this just a bunch of rules? We live in a culture today that sees Christianity as a bunch of restrictive rules of dos and don’ts.
We live in a culture today of expectations. We expect God to do things for us. We pray, “God, fulfill your promises to us.” And rightfully so. God loves us. But do you ever stop and think, what is God’s intention for us? What is it that that he wants for us? And why does He do these things? Is it for our good? I believe it is.
Moses is encouraging them – these are the commandments and the decree you need to hang on to as you cross the Jordan and step into the Promised Land – because God has intentions for us.
Let’s not drift away from what God really wants for us. In the next blog we’ll look at how God’s intention is generational and beneficial.
