Today’s Reading: Deuteronomy 11:18-25

God’s Word was Made for Immersion (v. 18-20)

There were three senses in which an ancient Israelite was to be immersed in God’s Law: (1) Personally: the laws were to be “bound” to their head and hands for constant reminder; (2) Filially: all talk in the family was for the purpose of instruction and illumination; (3) Socially: the laws were to be on the doorposts and gates for all to know their allegiance.

This begs the question for believers: do we view God’s Word as the very sphere in which our lives are lived? Do we think constantly in relation to God’s Law? Do we allow it to become our default thought? God’s Word was not made for passive adherence: His words are life. It is not super-Christianity to be absorbed in God’s Law; it is normal Christianity. Anything less is abnormal.

This begs the question for families: is the Word our regular talk? Or is family Bible hour the measure of our spiritual investment (that is, if we still hold such a thing)? What a blessing for a child to take for granted that his home is governed by Biblical knowledge and authority.

Then the question is for testimony-bearers: does the world see Scripture written on our doorposts and gates? Does it filter what goes in and what comes out of our hearts? Does it make us stand apart for our wisdom so others say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people” (4:6)? Scripture is the water we swim in, the air we breathe, the blood that enlivens. It is not a life-component; it is definitional to life itself. It should clearly mark us out, even among those who are ignorant of its words.

God’s Word was Made for Eradication (v. 21-23)

Israel was promised that obedience to God’s Law ensured a permanent dwelling in the land as well as a total dispossessing of the nations before them. They followed God’s words, and this was equivalent to “holding fast to Him.” Therefore, when God became the measure of their lives, He became the measure of their strength.

There is a strange theology which is gaining popularity, and it claims that God can be and must be experienced apart from His Word. Yet here, obedience is equivalent to love, and following His ways is equivalent to relationship. The measure to which we conform our lives to God’s words is the measure to which we possess Him experientially. By extension, it is also the measure of strength we experience in destroying our enemies.

God’s Word was Made for Possession (v. 24)

By this, I mean the possession of the inheritance. Though Israel owned the land by promise, they did not possess it until obedience drove them to claim it step by step. This illustrates the difference between our positional standing before God and our conditional state of enjoyment of all God has brought us into. It remains unchanged that “by God’s doing are you in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:30) Who became to us wisdom, justification, sanctification, and redemption. All spiritual blessings are ours, and we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. We are maturing toward the stature of the completed Man in heaven Who fills all things. Yet so often we find a disconnect between what is real and what we feel is true. The reason is that we have not staked our claim upon these divine realities; we have not placed our own two feet upon the ground God has given to us. It must be our life mission to walk up and down in the pages of Scripture claiming as true all God has promised us in Christ. Thus, we will live as if our position was fully realized; that is, after all, what faith does. Though the sons of God are not yet manifested, we can exhibit a measure of increasing glory as the firstfruits of God’s spiritual race of creatures (Romans 8, 2 Corinthians 3, James 1). We have so much to be enjoyed–a deep ocean of inheritance to be discovered; ours is to take the dive and be different because of it. Let us not only obey God’s Word; let us possess its promises and enjoy it as our life.

God’s Word was Made for Intimidation (v. 25)

Because supernatural power is unexplainable, it intimidates the naturalist. Israel’s enemies, though numerically stronger, would be destroyed by a population of recent slaves; such was unexplainable. Man fears what he cannot explain. Though he may mock it, he cannot deny its reality. Though he may ridicule, deep down he trembles. Such is the case when the world views consistent Christians. They are an odd people, yet they have something that works. They are the people of one book yet of comprehensive wisdom. They are perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not destroyed, all for the sake of a Man they have never seen yet love with all their hearts. This is the power of God’s Word transforming the life of its hearer. Mr. Spurgeon once said, “A man who has the Bible at his fingers’ ends and in his heart’s core, is a champion in our Israel; you cannot compete with him: you may have an armory of weapons, but his Scriptural knowledge will overcome you, for it is a sword like that of Goliath, of which David said, ‘There is not like it.'” Let us be people of the book–immersed in its pages, victorious over its enemies, overjoyed by its treasures, and transformed by its power.