Devotion 17 September 2026
Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. Psalm 12: 1
READING: Deuteronomy 10: 1-13
In Deuteronomy, we read about Moses obeying instruction from God in preparation for receiving what we now call the Ten Commandments, the rules that govern the lives of the followers of God. After Moses had spent 40 days on the mountain, in communion with God, he had this message from God to give to the people: “what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?” (Deut 10: 12, 13)
Fear, obey, love and serve. For our own good.
We are sometimes guilty, at least in some ways, of treating God too much like our buddy, someone just there always on hand to help us. As a Christian, of course we have the privilege of knowing God, through Jesus, as our Father, and Jesus as our Friend and companion on the road. But we need to guard against forgetting Who exactly He is. He is powerful, mighty, the great Creator of all that is and has ever been, and the One Who reaches out for our worship and communication with Him. We need to fear Him in the sense of holding Him in awe. God’s attributes, nature and unconditional grace and love demand our respect and our worship.
It is a privilege to be able to serve and obey Him. However, He doesn’t want half-hearted service. He wants everything we can give.
The two things go together – if we fear and revere Him, we will desire to serve and walk in obedience to Him completely and be honoured at the privilege of doing so.
Prayer
Almighty God, Lord of all, King of Kings, we come before Your presence in awe and trembling. We acknowledge Your position as the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, and we are honoured that You wish to hear our prayers. Please accept our desire to walk in obedience with You. In the name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, Amen
