“FOR THY GOOD”
Moses had made the journey up Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, only to return and find the people dancing and worshipping a golden calf. They had already forgotten that God had saved them from the Egyptians and released them from bondage.
In Deuteronomy 9 and 10, Moses recounts this story to the people of Israel. When he finished, he asked the following question in verses 12 and 13:
“And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?”
At the end of this list is the phrase for our consideration today. Moses said to do this “for thy good.”
Moses wanted them to know just what God required. They knew that God had only asked complete obedience of them and to serve only Him. They knew this because they had been told over and over, and each time they received a promise that He would be with them if they were indeed obedient. But over and over they worshipped Baal or some other idol. They left the safety of obedience and had to pay the consequences for their evil deeds.
This reminds me of a story found in the book of Matthew 20. Jesus encountered a young man, a ruler, one considered to be wealthy. His question to Jesus was, “What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” Jesus told him that he had to keep the commandments. The young man requested specifics. To which Jesus said:
“Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
The young man probably felt good about this because he responded to Jesus that he had obeyed all of these commandments from the time he was a youth. Then he asked, “What lack I yet?”
Jesus’ response was, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.”
He was no more obedient than the Israelites were in the Old Testament. But remember what Moses told them that God said? He told them obedience was for their own good. Selling what he had would have been good for him because he would have had eternal life.
As children we are told that obedience is a good thing. We are told that it is good for us to be obedient and do what is right. Moses expressed this to the Children of Israel in Deuteronomy 6:7. “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” He is referring to the commandments, the statues, and the judgments referred to in Deuteronomy 6:1.
Paul told the Corinthians in II Corinthians 2:8-9, “Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him, For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.”
Paul wanted to know of the Corinthians the same things Moses wanted to know of the Children of Israel—that they were obedient. Why? It is because it is for our good.
What good comes from obedience? Obedience got Stephen stoned to death, Acts 7. Obedience got James, the brother of John killed with the sword, Acts 12. Obedience got Saul of Tarsus (Paul, the apostle) beaten, thrown in prison, stoned, and eventually killed.
None of this sounds like anything good comes from obedience. But Paul told Timothy, “But godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come” I Timothy 4:8.
Obedience to God will bring us eternal life. That doesn’t mean our obedience to just the part of His commandments with which we agree or want to obey. It is for all the things He commands us to do. May God help us to know His will and to obey it!
Sandra Oliver