Читать книгу The Grand Sweep - Large Print - J. Ellsworth Kalas - Страница 79

Seeing Life Through Scripture

I don’t suppose any generation has had a natural love affair with laws and commandments, but I think structures of restraint are especially unattractive to our times. It is not that we are notably worse than other generations; it is just that we have been taught to think more about our rights than about our obligations. Therefore we don’t really hear Moses when he says to his people, “And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?” (Deuteronomy 4:8).

But it is partly because we have such laws that we can expect, with Moses, that the Lord our God is “so near . . . whenever we call to him” (4:7). Yes, grace makes God accessible even when we break the commandments. But as the saints have learned all through the ages, our communion with God is at its best when we avoid transgression; and the Law is meant to help us do that. Sometimes, in our enthusiasm for the grace of God, we forget how good the Law is. It is the Law, after all, that tells us of life’s pitfalls—of those hazardous areas that can destroy us and frustrate our communion with God. The Law will not save us, but it will help us to keep saved and to enjoy the fullness of the Christian life. If we would give God’s demands a better chance, we would find him nearer; and we would understand why the psalmist said, “How I love your law!” (Psalm 119:97).

The Sum of It All

“These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing” (Deuteronomy 2:7).