"And that you may love the Lord, listen to His voice and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life..." (Deuteronomy 30:20 NIV)
I’m still making my way through Torah and today Moses is wrapping up his last sermon, giving his people final instructions. I was struck how his words still apply today.
Love looks like listening and holding on dearly. We aren’t surprised by this: we’ve talked together a lot about how love begins with listening. We can’t hardly love a person if we haven’t taken the time to truly see and hear them. We listen and we hold fast, even when we disagree with what they say.
The same is true in our relationship with God. We tell God ‘I love You’ with active listening. I recently read that the word ‘shema’ is far more than hearing. Translated correctly, shema insists: hear and obey. In the Old Testament, listening and obeying were inseparable acts.
We love God by listening-obeying. And we love Him by holding tight, even when we feel differently. When we disagree. When we are being battered by the storms of life. When the lights go out and it seems morning may never arrive. On the best days and on the worse days.
Consider marriage. Our union is successful when we remember to reach for each other. It deteriorates when we begin to reach for other things. The same is true with God. Holding fast includes all seasons and situations. Remarkably, it is absolutely how He holds to us. Do we hold to Him with the same determination?
The last piece feels self-explanatory. He is our life. I think of the psalmist’s words echoed again in Acts: “in Him we live and move and have our being”. We may try to deny the essentiality of God, but it is absurd. Our lungs expand and collapse with breath He provides. Our brains send signals in sparks of light that He initiates. Our cells divide and multiply at His command. He settles us in homes and families and communities and countries according to His design. Our earth spins on it’s invisible axis and sustains life because He has set it in place and motion. He underpins the planet and the galaxies and the universe itself. “He is our life.” The sooner we come to terms with this truth, the better off we’ll be.
"'For in Him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are His offspring.'" (Acts 17:26 NIV)
Lord, forgive us when we lose sight of You. Today Moses’ words remind us of what is most important. Grow us up in love. May we learn to listen-obey as You have commanded. Let us hold fast to You as You hold fast to us. You are our life. Amen.