I, the LORD, am your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.
You shall not have other gods besides me.
All of the commandments have this as their context. We are brought out from the land of slavery. We are given the commandments not as new forms of oppression, but rather, as guarantees of freedom.
The Evil One tries to steal the protection God's commands can offer. He tries to make us think about God's commands as burdensome. He sends tribulation and persecution and tells us that what we need is to just forget the word of God and find comfort however we may. Perhaps we won't even have to endure the persecution. At least we, he suggests, we can find comfort in sinful distraction. He pulls at us with the allure of worldly riches. He pushes with worldly anxiety. He suggests that the only freedom we can know is to surrender the word of God and to live as pagans.
We must be assured that there is no fruit without the word of God. There is no freedom unless we cling to the words he speaks. No matter what deals the devil offers he cannot give us an unending life of pleasure. We're always going to face a struggle eventually. We all have a journey across the desert filled with many battles that we must undertake. Only God can keep us free and safe on this journey. Only his word has the power to guide us.
But the seed sown on rich soil
is the one who hears the word and understands it,
who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
The commandments are so basic that we often wonder if they really have this much value. But let's challenge ourselves. The more we lean into a command like keeping holy the sabbath or honoring our parents the more blessings we experience. The more act with justice toward others rather than violence or deceit the more we experience freedom in all of our relationships. There is more value here than we dared to guess.
Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
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