Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Exodus 20:13-17
[God said:] “You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely against your neighbour. You must not covet your neighbour’s house.”
These blunt commandments are even more brief in Hebrew, where a better translation would be “No murder. No adultery. No stealing.” God is setting out in quick succession the activities that must be stopped if the community is to thrive. Having respect for human life, marriage, property and truth-telling are foundational to a peaceful and harmonious society, and coveting can only be destructive.
On first reading, the trouble with these commandments is that they sound so negative. However, the reason for this is, quite clearly, because God’s desire is the best. He won’t settle for anything less than that, so He is ruthlessly opposed to anything that will spoil life for His much-loved children. The sanctions showed how serious He was. Murder would lead to capital punishment, adultery to stoning and the thief had to make full restitution.
As human beings, we never enjoy being told what we can’t do, but it is often a sign of love. My parents spent years telling me the things I shouldn’t do. Their rules were often annoying and frustrating, but there is no doubt that they were a sign of their love for me and my sisters. If they had allowed us to do whatever we wanted, it would have been the clearest sign that they didn’t care.
Coveting might well be the most challenging of these five commandments for us. In our society, coveting is continually encouraged. Every advertisement encourages us to want something, but God has a much better plan. He wants us to be content with what we have and to find peace in not continually rushing after more and more of everything.
Question
Which of these five commandments do you find most challenging and why?
Prayer
Lord God, I thank You for Your complete love for me. Help me to believe that Your commandments are always an expression of Your love. Amen

Exodus 20:8-10,12
“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God…Honour your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”
Here are the first two positive commandments. The previous three declared that we shouldn’t put any other gods in front of the true God, shouldn’t make idols and shouldn’t blaspheme. Having established those foundational principles, we are given positive guidance on how to build a secure, God-focused society. The first is by ordering our time properly, and the second is through building strong families.
Respect for the Sabbath is far more important than merely having a day off each week. That is undoubtedly a wise and healthy thing to do, but the principal reason for respecting the Sabbath is that by doing so we put God in His rightful place. The Sabbath day is dedicated to the Lord. It’s a day when we worship Him together and declare His greatness and power, and through it we are refreshed and strengthened in our faith for the other six days of the week. God has given us plenty of time to do our work, and the seventh day enables us to refocus our lives on God and on the things that matter most.
The Jewish celebration of Sabbath is an intensely family occasion, so it isn’t surprising that the next foundational commandment was one concerning parents. Honouring parents is so crucial that God declared that if the people obeyed it, they would live a long and full life. Everything hinges on the family. In days when many families are dispersed and rarely see one another, this is a challenge, but this does nothing to erase the importance of the commandment.
It has been wisely observed that God didn’t give ten suggestions but ten commandments. We disobey any of them at our peril. Ordering our time and family life in a godly way are not options but absolute necessities.
Question
In what ways do your sabbath days help you to refocus on God?
Prayer
Loving Father, thank You for the gift of the Sabbath and of my family. Help me to treasure them more and more. Amen

Exodus 20:6-7
[God said:] “I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.”
The word commandment sounds demanding and perhaps even harsh, so we need to be clear that God’s motivation was lavish unfailing love. When I think back to my childhood, I recall that my father had some very clear principles. The most major among them was showing respect to my mother, and if I said or did anything that suggested less, I would know about it quickly! There is absolutely no question that his reaction was based upon love for my mother and also for me, although it could seem and feel quite harsh at the time. In a similar way, God insists that His name must be given absolute respect, and the penalties for showing disrespect would be very severe.
Some devout Jews have taken this commandment to mean that we shouldn’t use the word God at all, but I don’t agree with that. What matters is that we use the name of God with ultimate respect. This is difficult in a society which constantly makes jokes about God and frequently uses His name as an expletive. We won’t achieve anything helpful by lecturing the people around us and telling them how offensive we find their language. I believe our best approach is to ensure that we always use the name of God with care and respect. I like to take every opportunity to say to people: “God bless you” in the hope that they might see how much God means to me. However brief the encounter, I have found that it is normally possible to use the greeting, even in a shop or at a petrol station check out!
Question
In what ways might you be able to help the people around you to see how much God means to you?
Prayer
Lord God, help me always to speak Your name with love and respect, and to encourage others to do the same. Amen

Exodus 20:2-4
“I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.”
The ten commandments are remarkable in many ways, but possibly most amazing is how short they are. Since they were delivered to Moses, governments have laid down tens of millions of laws, but these ten offer us the solid foundation for any society which wants to build its life in a godly and sustainable way.
Whichever way you say the word, commandments don’t sound jolly! They sound severe and restrictive, so we need to remind ourselves of those words with which they begin. God reminds His people that He is their saviour and that He led them miraculously out of Egypt. It was because of His love for them that He gave them these laws, which would ensure they would continue to be blessed. Any loving parent will put in place very clear rules and boundaries for their children in order to ensure that they thrive and live safely. God is no different and has given us these foundational rules so that we can enjoy life to the full.
The first two commandments demanded that the people should only worship the one true God. There were plenty of other gods on offer in Moses’ time, and the people knew it. The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 400 years and would have been familiar with the many gods that were worshipped in that land. The Pharaohs were believed to be the sons of the sun god Rah. Indeed, every part of life was dominated by different gods. They worshipped the River Nile and honoured Apis, the chief god of Memphis, in the form of a sacred bull. They also worshipped Serapis, who defended the land against locusts. On all sides, they were offered gods they could follow, but God demanded exclusive worship.
Our society is also full of gods. There are not only innumerable other religions and philosophies but our material possessions, ambitions, careers, hobbies or sports can be just as demanding in calling for our commitment and devotion. However, God alone deserves our worship. We need to build our homes, communities and nations on this foundation principle. If we are to build our lives on the ten commandments, this is where we have to begin.
Question
In what ways do these first two commandments shape your life?
Prayer
Lord God, help me to give You the first place in my life. Amen

Exodus 19:5-6
[The Lord said:] “Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.”
When God spoke these words to Moses it was exactly two months since the people had left Egypt. They were getting used to their new life in the desert and God wanted to establish the basis of their relationship with him. He took Moses up Mount Sinai to give him the foundation principles upon which their new life should be lived, and at the heart of it was the word ‘covenant’. God would care and provide for His people but, at the same time, they needed to understand their own responsibilities before God. These would be expressed not only in the ten commandments, which God would soon give to Moses, but also in a large number of other regulations.
The whole Bible is based on the principle of covenant, and that is the invitation which God gives to us today. He promises us His salvation, His guidance and His protection, but He looks to us to be obedient to him. At the heart of this are commands which are the same in the Old and New Testaments. Jesus summed them up in this way: “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).
A one-way relationship simply doesn’t work. It’s not a relationship in any meaningful sense. Our relationship with our spouse, children, society or any organisation needs to be two-way, so we shouldn’t be surprised that when God makes generous promises to us, He looks to us to take responsibility and to live by His rules. Let’s step into today thanking God for His love for us and making sure we live in a way that passes on His love.
Question
What will it mean for you to pass on God’s love today?
Prayer
Lord God, I thank You for Your perfect love for me. Give me your strength and guidance as I seek to share love with those around me today. Amen