Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time. (Deuteronomy 4:40 NIV)
This command makes much more sense, now that we understand the story. This command is being given to the children who are stuck in the desert for 40 years because of their parents’ bad judgement.
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. "You shall have no other gods before me. "You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Deuteronomy 5:6-10 NIV)
They have been getting punished for their parents’ sins – to the third and fourth generation. God is promising, though, to show them love to a thousand generations – as long as they choose to be with God rather than against God.
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth. (Deuteronomy 11:18-21 NIV)
When they choose God, they will be given the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When they choose God, they will be given victory over their enemies. When they choose God, they will be given life more abundantly. They simply need to do what their parents didn’t do. They need to choose God.
Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever! (Deuteronomy 5:29 NIV)
How about you? Do you choose God? Do you teach children to choose God? Does God give you life more abundantly?
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