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The Most Important
Moses said to Israel:
1The Lord told me to give you these laws and teachings, so you can obey them in the land he is giving you. Soon you will cross the Jordan River and take that land. 2And if you and your descendants want to live a long time, you must always worship the Lord and obey his laws. 3Pay attention, Israel! Our ancestors worshiped the Lord, and he promised to give us this land that is rich with milk and honey. Be careful to obey him, and you will become a successful and powerful nation.
4 Listen, Israel! The Lord our God is the only true God! 5 So love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength. 6 Memorize his laws 7and tell them to your children over and over again. Talk about them all the time, whether you're at home or walking along the road or going to bed at night, or getting up in the morning. 8Write down copies and tie them to your wrists and foreheads to help you obey them. 9Write these laws on the door frames of your homes and on your town gates.
Worship Only the Lord
Moses said to Israel:
10 The Lord promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give you this land. Now he will take you there and give you large towns, with good buildings that you didn't build, 11and houses full of good things that you didn't put there. The Lord will give you wells that you didn't have to dig, and vineyards and olive orchards that you didn't have to plant. But when you have eaten so much that you can't eat any more, 12don't forget it was the Lord who set you free from slavery and brought you out of Egypt. 13 Worship and obey the Lord your God with fear and trembling, and promise that you will be loyal to him.
14Don't have anything to do with gods that are worshiped by the nations around you. 15If you worship other gods, the Lord will be furious and wipe you off the face of the earth. The Lord your God is with you, 16 so don't try to make him prove that he can help you, as you did at Massah. 17Always obey the laws that the Lord has given you 18-19and live in a way that pleases him. Then you will be able to go in and take this good land from your enemies, just as he promised your ancestors.
20Someday your children will ask, “Why did the Lord give us these laws and teachings?”
21Then you will answer:
We were slaves of the king of Egypt, but the Lord used his great power and set us free. 22We saw him perform miracles and make horrible things happen to the king, his officials, and everyone else. 23The Lord rescued us from Egypt, so he could bring us into this land, as he had promised our ancestors. 24-25That's why the Lord our God demands that we obey his laws and worship him with fear and trembling. And if we do, he will protect us and help us be successful.
Reflect
Pay attention! Moses almost seems to shout it out. That is particularly good advice if you have failed a test. But Moses was not just looking backward. He was laying down a personal devotional practice for the emerging nation. It would cement their identity as God-seekers. “Listen, Israel!” (Shemain Hebrew). From this demand has come down a practice of prayer for the centuries. It defines daily life for many today.
Active listening is a skill that can be learned. And we need it. All day we are bombarded with voices. Advertising and political messaging wash over us. We become selective listeners, weighing and evaluating this endless stream. We fall into the daily routine, relying on well worked-out answers to life’s deepest questions. Then—boom a crisis happens! The time for hearing is over. Now it is time to act.
Thinking and reflection are hard work. It takes discipline and practice to learn to listen carefully. And even more work is needed to answer in wisdom. Jesus was expert at it. He steeped himself in the Shema practice of listening. Moses said, “Listen Israel! The Lord our God is the only true God!” And this became Jesus’ favorite response. To the audience at the end of his lesson he said, “Listen up!” Or when challenged to name the greatest commandment, you can almost hear him say, “Shema!”(For example he often says, “If you have ears, pay attention!” (Matthew 11:15) or “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength . . . and your neighbor too!” (Matthew 22:37. Contemporary English Version.))
Moses says listen! And here we find a new Biblical principle emerging, the fear of the Lord. To know this personal God is to listen. And this listening is expressed in worship, obedience and loyalty. The disciples had to learn this about Jesus. “Who is this man that even the wind and the waves obey him?” Shema—pay attention! This is the redeemer who Moses preached and Israel worshipped.
Respond
Oh Lord, the one true God and creator, hear our prayer. With you is light and life. In you we find our meaning. Yet our hearts so easily wander. So draw us again from our distractions. Hold us in your care today as we listen carefully for your voice. We praise you Lord of life. Amen.
John Wood
Dr. Wood is Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies at The King's University and Dean of the Natural Sciences Faculty. His research is on urban ecology, campus sustainability and food insects. John was born in Japan, grew up on a clear-cut in western Washington State and attended North Park University in Chicago. He has written and spoken widely on caring for creation to church and campus groups. His recent publications include: How Then Shall We Eat? Insect-Eating Attitudes and Sustainable Foodways; Stewarding the gift of land: Christian campuses as land management models; and Sustainable Missions: Ethical Principles for Holistic Practice in a Broken World.