A (22:22)
Yeah. That he has especially the days to share too, you know, with us. And P.S. as you read Deuteronomy, or if you want to break it out, if you're a little bit like, help me, help me know what's happening here. 1 through 12 chapters. 1 through 12 is a remembering of the journey. And then. Or 1 through 11, then 12 through 28 are going to be. And this is what. Here's all the laws that I. And. And ways of living and patterns of living that God taught to me, that I taught to you. So there we're in that reminiscing part in the beginning, which is why our favorite parts are going to come from these one through 11 chapters. But let's go to six, chapter six. If you have any friends who are of the Jewish faith, this is pro. And you ask them, tell me one of your favorite verses, most important verses. It's going to come from Deuteronomy, chapter 6. So for good reason. Yeah, right. It has a name. It's called the Shema. Shema is a word that means to hear. And starting in verse four, it's called the Shema because that's how it starts. It starts with that word here. But that word here is more than just listen. It's like a. It's like a behold word. Like, do you remember when John the Baptist says that to the people at the Jordan river when Jesus walks up that, he says, behold the Lamb of God. I like that that word has the word built into it, at least in English. Hold like, hold onto this. Like, take it in. It's not just an ear word, it's an I word, a heart word, a gut word, a soul word, right? Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God. Like listen to our God. Right? Is how it starts. And then it goes like this. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thine soul and with all thy might. And these words. P.S. that's where Jesus. Remember when the lawyer asked Jesus what's the great commandment in the law? This is where. This was a prayer that was said twice a day by all good Jewish boys and girls. So it's something that they recited a lot and even more than that, and we'll get to that in a second. And he said, and these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lies down and when thou risest up and thou shalt bind and PS don't you love that? It was like, just talk of his goodness and talk of his love when you're on walks and when you're sitting at the park and when you're on a road trip and, and, and, and when you're at the grocery store and everywhere you are, just always teach and, and, and, and talk about these things. It makes me think of. Sorry, I'm interrupting the shema halfway through, but makes me think about. There's a practice in among Muslims that they will actually, when their babies are born, whisper the name of God to them. So the very first thing that they hear is the name of God. And then it's the very last thing that's whispered into someone's ear before they, before they pass away also. And just. And then five times a day in prayer, right? And these practices that help us to remember. And, and, and then it goes on in verse 8 and it says, Thou shalt bind them these words for a sign upon thine hand. And they'll be as frontlets between your eyes and you shall write them upon the posts of your house and upon your gates. And it shall be with when the Lord God shall have brought thee into the land which he swore unto your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to give thee great and goodly cities which you didn't build, and houses full of good things that you didn't fill up, and wells already dug, which you digest not, and vineyards and olive trees which thou plantest not when thou shalt have eaten and be full. He says that's the end of your story, a promise fulfilled. But in the meantime, hold on to this idea of loving God with all your heart, might, mind and strength, and him loving you with all of his heart, might, mind and strength, and remind yourself of this everywhere and anywhere you go. And maybe if you've ever been to Israel or been in an Orthodox community, been around people of the Jewish faith, this is something that they still do, and they do it literally. And I don't know if God meant for people to do it literally or, or not. I can't be his boss. But, like, you know, when he says, bind it to your hand, does that mean, like, everything that you do in your eyes, like everything that you think? But people of the Jewish faith do this literally. And they take these things called Teflin or phylacteries, and they're little boxes and they have little straps connected to them and they, they wrote. They write this scripture inside the boxes and they roll them up and they put them inside and they actually literally tie them between their eyes and they tie them down their arms and they write them on the post of their house. Have you ever seen something called a mezuzah? It's a little like. What do you even call that thing? Box? Yeah, it's like a little box. They're just designed differently. And this scripture is rolled up inside and placed inside. And they put it right outside their doors and right outside their gates. Their gates. And they touch it every time they walk in or they touch it every time they walk out. And it's just a way of some. Some like, habit built into their life to always remember the love God has for them and that reciprocal love that they have back toward him.
