I am reading through two different reading plans this year.  One through the New Testament with my church family, and then an Old Testament reading plan on my own.  I love it when the Father brings revelation, specifically for me,  from both places in the Bible, to give me something from His heart.  But today, I didn’t feel like it was just for me…it’s something I believe we can all glean from, and check our own hearts to see if it might apply to us.

First I’ll start with Deuteronomy 6.  This part of Deuteronomy is where Moses is retelling the history of what happened on their journey through the wilderness for 40 years.    Actually it starts in chapter 5 where it says, (vs 1) Then Moses summoned all Israel, and said to them, “Hear O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn them and observe them carefully.  The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.  The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us alive here today.  The Lord spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire, while I was standing 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 did not go up the mountain.”

Then he tells them the 10 commandments.  Then the children of Israel said, (vs 24) “Behold, the Lord our God  has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire, we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives.  Now then why should we die?  For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we shall die.  For who is there of all flesh, who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?  Go near and hear all that the Lord our God says; then speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.”

Then in chapter 6, which was today’s reading,  I started to see something significant.  Verse 2 says “so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.  (vs 3) O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you…  (vs 12) then watch yourself, lest you forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.  (vs 17) you should diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you.  (vs 25)  And it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as He commanded us.

See all of those words in bold text?  Each of those words is the same word in the Hebrew.  It is the word shamar (shaw-mar’) and here is the definition; a primary root; to hedge about (as with thorns), ie guard; generally,  to protect, attend to, take heed (to self), look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save (self),  wait (for), watch (man).   Let me paint a visual for you here about the phrase ‘to hedge about (as with thorns’;  about, in this context, means around, so imagine putting a boundary of thorn bushes around your favorite flower in your yard.  It would be hard to get to that plant to water and prune it as you wouldn’t want to get caught up in the thorns.  In your lifestyle or thought life, to hedge around something with a thorn bush would be very active, intentional guarding, wouldn’t you agree?

But that wasn’t the part that struck me so hard.  It was the word forget in the verse above that said (vs 12) then watch yourself, lest you forget…  that word forget, in the Hebrew,  is the word  shakach (shaw-kakh’) which is a primary root; to mislay, ie to be oblivious of, from want of memory or attention.  The word attention is what stabbed me right in the heart.

I know what it’s like to not feel seen, or paid attention to.  I’ve walked into rooms and not been acknowledged or noticed or talked to.  I’ve felt the pain of rejection from feeling disregarded or not valued.  Tears immediately came to my eyes because I realized I’ve done that to the Lord.  There have been times I’ve felt His prompting to step aside with Him and said, “later”.  Sometimes later comes, and sometimes it gets lost in life never to resurface.  So I repented and asked for His forgiveness and then I went to my New Testament Bible reading for the day, which, interestingly enough, was also an Old Testament chapter out of Isaiah.

Isaiah 65:1-3 is God talking to His people (the children of Israel) through the prophet Isaiah.  He says, “I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me.  I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me.  I said, ‘Here am I, here am I’ to a nation which did not call on My name.  I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts, a people who continually provoke Me to My face…  then vs 12b “I called, but you did not answer; I spoke, but you did not hear.  And you did evil in My sight, and chose that in which I did not delight”.  Again, I felt the stab of sorrow….this time for God as He was telling His people “this is what you did to Me while I was calling you and spreading out My hands to you…”

He gave them boundaries, He told them His desires and guidelines all through out Leviticus and Deuteronomy.  They were slaves who had no choices living in Egypt.  They were bossed around and used as laborers and did not know how to live as free men in God’s kingdom.  Now I realize this was Old Testament covenant and we now live in the New Testament covenant.  Jesus has paid that price for us on the cross;  we no longer have to sacrifice animals to cover our sin.  Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for us and has paved the way for us to live a relational life with God our Father.  We no longer live by rules and regulations; But the guidelines above still apply.

Some times I feel like we take God for granted.  We live in a grace era and love knowing that even if we aren’t perfect, which none of us are, by the way, He is faithful to be that loving Father to us.  We can’t deserve His goodness, it’s a gift of grace.  BUT…to have a healthy spiritual life, I think we need the proper tension between grace and holiness.  If you are too far on the holiness side, it’s religion!!  Rules, regulations, do’s and don’ts……we all know and have experienced that.  There is no love in religion.  Just judgment and lots of performance.  I’m not talking about that….

On the extreme side of grace it’s all loosey-goosey (in my opinion anyway…).  I’ve seen people who don’t seem to care how they live,  what they say  and God will forgive them so it’s all good…. lighten up a little why don’t you…

I believe there should be proper tension between the holiness camp and the grace camp.  Somewhere in the middle should be a desire to please our Heavenly Father with our lifestyle and the desire to step aside if we feel that prompting.  I believe what the Father wants is a relationship with us.  He wants to hear from us when we have problems…He wants to give us His insights, a Heavenly perspective, to see things from His view, not ours.  Isaiah 55:8 says “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

I also believe we have a personal responsibility to do something with the life we’ve been given, to invest it into the Kingdom of God and intentionally protect God’s word and His work in us.  Here are several verses that say that.

Proverbs 4:20-23  My son (or daughter), give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings.  Do not let them depart from your sight.  Keep them in the midst of your heart.  For they are life to those who find them and health to all their whole body.  Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.

See that word ‘keep’ that I put in bold text…..yep, you guessed it.  It’s the same meaning as those words above and means ‘to hedge about (as with thorns)”.  And the word watch in watch over your heart….it’s super close in meaning too.  It’s the Hebrew word natsar (naw-tsar’) and it means, to guard, in a good sense (to protect, maintain, obey etc.) preserve, watcher (man).   And the word diligence?  Well….it the Hebrew word mishmar (mish-mawr’) which means a guard (the man, the post or the prison), a deposit and comes from the root word…..you guessed it!    To hedge about (as with thorns).

Here are some New Testament verses that I also believe apply.

Romans 12:2  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Do you know what that word renewing means?  It’s the Greek word anakainosis (an-ak-ah-ee-no-sis) which means renovation 

Ephesians 4:23  And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.  This word renewed is the Greek word ananeoo (an-an-neh-o-o)  which means to renovate ie reform, renew.

Have you ever done a room renovation?  We did our kitchen.  First we had to tear out all of the old, old kitchen cabinets, old carpet.  We even tore out the door and added a sliding glass door.  The old had to go so the new could be done.  I see our minds and our lifestyle the same way.  Not always, but sometimes we have to remove some things so God can add something better.  Something life giving and fresh, and oh so worth it.

Finally, here is my last scripture for this blog.

1 Peter 1:13-16  Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

That scripture pretty much says it all…..taking responsibility for our thought life AND living a holy life before the Lord.

There’s no getting around it guys….We have a part to play if we want to grow in our relationship with the Lord.  We have to allow our minds to be renewed, we may have to remove some things from our life so the Lord can add something better back.  We should be mindful of the onslaught of influence that comes from so many different ways these days and guard our hearts.

I, for one, want to step aside when I feel Him call.  I had to be intentional to write this today as I had so many other things I could have done.  But I felt Him say, “no…..do this today….so I did”.