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- [00:00]
A
Foreign.
- [00:06]
B
Hey, it's Shelby and Paul here. We're taking you through the book of Deuteronomy. And today we are in chapters four through six. Paul, what's happening in these chapters?
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A
Yeah, so, and yesterday in chapters one through three, we had kind of this retelling of the narrative of Numbers. And now Moses is going to have a retelling of some of these commandments that God had given them about how to live as the Israelites.
- [00:29]
B
Okay, great. So when you're reading through these chapters, what did you notice?
- [00:34]
A
Yeah. So there's two verses in these chapters that are super important. And I think their importance almost can't be overstated. It comes in Deuteronomy 6, 4, 5. And these verses read, listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And, you know, you get a sense of the importance of these commands in the following verses where Moses kind of tells them, hey, you know, you're supposed to have these. Speak about these commands constantly, you know, when you sit down at home, when you lie down at home, to put them on your doorposts in your house. Right. But I think something that tells us as Christians the importance of these verses is that Jesus actually says that these are the greatest command that God gives us. And so, you know, in. In Matthew 22, which is where Jesus mentions that Pharisees, some of the Pharisees are kind of trying to challenge Jesus as they do, and they ask him, you know, what's the greatest command of the law? Trying to kind of trip him up. And, you know, Jesus actually just basically quotes this straight at them. He says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And he says this is the greatest and most important command. And so loving God, you know, even though that involves lots of very specific commands, it's the focus of everything that we do as Christians and for the Israelites as well. And so, again, these are super key.
- [01:58]
B
Okay, I love that, and I thank you for pointing those out, because when you're reading so many chapters in one day, you can rush past something that's a super pivotal moment in scripture without noticing it. So I'm glad you were able to point that out for us. What do these chapters mean for us today?
- [02:15]
A
Yeah, so it kind of makes me. When you. When you ask that, it kind of makes me think of those verses immediately following, which is verses six through nine there in chapter six. And basically, I think, you know, he's talking about how the people are supposed to have God's commands in their heart. Right. And I think for me, scripture and scripture reading, again, I almost can't overstate its importance, you know, and through a plan like this, like the year in the Bible study is a really great way to do it, to just read straight through the Bible. But I also think just meditating on scripture as well is also so, so important to really internalize what you're reading. And like you said, not just brush past some of the most important verses in all scripture, but to really internalize them. And for me, one of the biggest ways I try to do that is scripture memory. And really not just being able to recite the words, but actually having them in my mind, turning them over in my mind, thinking about what does that mean for me, how is the Holy Spirit calling me to apply that? And I think for me, like, in moments of, you know, difficult conversations or, you know, just during long meeting at work or just even throughout my day, I find the Holy Spirit will sometimes call those scriptures to mind and they'll just come to the forefront of my mind, not because I was intentionally thinking about it, but again, because the Holy Spirit wanted me to think about that in that moment. And if I hadn't memorized the scripture, it wouldn't be there for the Holy Spirit to use. Right. And so I think just, you know, asking myself, is Scripture really present in every place in my life? Because that's what these verses mean, is to have them constantly on our minds, to talk about them constantly, to think about them constantly. Have them in our homes, in our workplaces, where we rest. And so it just always is inviting me back to just more and more of God's Word.
- [04:06]
B
Yeah, I love that. And I'm feeling challenged to slow down in Scripture. There's value to reading scripture quickly and, like, seeing the narrative develop over chapters, which is kind of what we're doing in this year in the Bible plan. But there's so much value to slowing down, too. And I'm not a person who loves to slow down. So this was a great reminder to me to pick a verse that I can meditate on or memorize, even if that's really slowly over the course of several weeks.
- [04:33]
A
Yeah, that's right. Yeah.
- [04:34]
B
All right, thanks for walking us through Deuteronomy 4. 6, Paul. We'll be back to talk through more tomorrow.