What does the LORD require of us?

by Prince Josiah Jeyaraj

Deuteronomy 10:12-13 - And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, but

to fear the Lord your God,

to walk in all His ways,

to love Him,

to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and

to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

Have you asked yourself – What does the LORD want me to do?

You can be thankful as he does not keep us in dark, but he tells us exactly what we need to do.

FEAR THE LORD

We fear people, we fear disease, we fear for families, we fear for safety, fear of being rejected, and fear of death.

The fear of God is an attitude of reverence

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge". Proverbs 1:7 Our fear of God is the starting point of our knowledge and of our relationship to God. When we recognize who God is,

"The Almighty, The Creator, Our Savior, Our Provider", we then will bow in humble adoration before Him.

“The fear of the Lord will cause one to hate evil”.  Proverbs 8:13

“The fear of the Lord will prolong life”. Proverbs 10:27

Those who fear Him, trust in the Lord for he is their help and shield, Ps115:11

Oswald Chambers wrote, "The remarkable thing about fearing God, is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else; whereas, when you do not fear God you fear everything else.

WALK IN ALL HIS WAYS

We are to walk in all (not some, not just the ways we like), we are to walk in all His ways. We are to imitate God.

How are we to do that? We can do that by walking like Jesus, we can do that by following in the ways/in the steps of Jesus.

I really like how The Apostle John said it, "Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did". I John 2:6

Jesus walked in love, He walked in compassion, He walked in truth, He walked away from the things of the world and he walked in obedience.
He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

In the same way God wants us to walk in love, walk in compassion, walk in truth, walk humbly and follow him.

In Psalm 32:8, we read, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you”.

God will teach us to walk in his ways, just hold onto him.

TO LOVE HIM

Moses says we are to love God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all of our strength. We are called / required to love God whole-heartedly, with our entire being, with all our energy. We are not to love God with only pieces of our lives, but rather with our whole lives.

Matthew 22:37, Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. 

Loving God means that we must give sacrificially of ourselves.

What do you do – when you love someone so dearly?

TO SERVE HIM

Serving the Lord is not an option. The Bible says serve HIM.

Serving God is not an option for God’s people. It’s a requirement. Both old and New Testament bare this out. Moses says we are to serve God in the same way we love God with all of our heart and all of our soul.

Are we serving God? Are we using our time and energies to build up His kingdom? Are we serving God in the church, in our Homes, in our jobs and with our lives. 

God deserves our best service, 

Let’s keep our eyes open seek and see for opportunities to serve the LORD.

God creates outlets to use God given abilities to serve HIM best.

TO OBEY HIM

The concept of obedience is the dominant theme of the book of Deuteronomy. The theme of the book of Deuteronomy is "OBEDIENCE IS ESSENTIAL".

Duet 8:6 So obey the commands of the LORD your God, by walking in his ways and fearing him.

We seek blessings from God, and most the blessing and promise verses is always quoted half.

Duet 4:1 Obey them so that you may live, so that you may enter and occupy the land promised.

Duet 4:40 If you obey all the laws and commands that I will give you today, all will be well with you and your children.

Duet 8:1 Obey all the commands, then you will live and multiply

Duet 11: 27 You will be blessed if you obey the commands I giving you today.

Jesus said in John 14:15, "IF YOU LOVE ME YOU WILL OBEY WHAT I COMMAND".