Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 8-10.

Today’s passage begins with Moses telling the Israelites to follow the commands he is giving them so that they might live and increase.  Then towards the end of the passage he asks them a rhetorical question about what God asks of them.  The answer to the question was that God asks only that they fear Him, love Him with all of their heart and all of their soul, and obey the commands which He gave them for their own good.  These things apply to us as well.  God has given us commands and instructions which are for our own good.  It reminds me of the difference between well-behaved children and children which are out of control.  I have noticed that well-behaved children are convinced that their parents enforce their rules because their parents believe those rules are in the best interest of the children.  While out of control children act as they do because they do not believe that about their parent’s rules.  Well behaved children believe that they will suffer negative consequences for breaking their parents’ rules whether or not they are caught.  Out of control children believe that there are no negative consequences for breaking the rules as long as they do not get caught.  If we believe that God is like a good parent, who establishes rules for His children for their own good, then we will understand that He does not punish us because He is offended that we disobeyed Him.  Rather, He punishes us to teach us not to do things which will have even worse consequences for us than the punishment He inflicts.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.