Deuteronomy 6.1-9
1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
The Words of God were in front of the people in every way. On their heads and in their hearts. At the doorposts of their homes – as they entered and left the home. God’s Words were with them whether they were at home, in the market place, the fields, the temple, along the roads. God’s Words always before them.
When we sit with God’s words well in our hearts and minds it does not mean we have to memorize the whole Bible, maybe not even portions. It means that the words of God live in us and they are part of us, they change us. When we go to the store or drive down the road, we have God’s words that live in us and guide us in life. When we are at work or when we are at home with family, we are living as God’s people who have his words in us and before us that change the way we live as they shape who we are.
Sit with God’s word now and read them again. Listen to them as you read them out loud on your own or with another. Let the words of God rest in you and live in you. And let the words of God shape you and bring life to you. Hear God as we hear his words of grace and life today.
Song – Speak, O Lord
Prayer
Teach us your way, O Lord, and lead us on a level path. Teach us, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then we will keep them to the end. Give us understanding, and we will keep your law and obey it with all our hearts. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.