What do we really know about God? One of my favorite teachers in seminary was Dr. T. W. Hunt, my music teacher. He taught me about music but even more about God. Tommy was able to introduce us to a closer relationship with God because he knew him so well. One day he challenged us to begin our prayer with praise. Tommy observed that if we try to tell God who he is to us, we often run out of words quickly because we don’t know him as well as we could. What if our spiritual speechlessness reveals that our relationships with God are not very strong? As we study the Bible this year, let’s look at each text and learn what it says about God.
The book of Deuteronomy is a book of Moses’ sermons. He asks in this chapter, “Why did the Lord your God choose you?” Do you ever wonder why he has chosen to make himself known to you? Moses explained that God had chosen to deliver Israel from slavery not because they were lovable but because he loved them.
What do we learn about God in this verse? We can know some things for certain. First, the Lord “Yahweh” your God is God. Is the God of history your God, or do you worship a substitute? Also, in this passage we learn that our God is God. No idol is his rival. Our God is the faithful God. As Jeremiah would later write in Lamentations 3:23, “Great is your faithfulness.” God keeps his promises. He has made a covenant with Israel and he will keep it not only with them but with a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. God’s love transcends generations. You may be able to trace Christianity back many generations in your family.
Some years ago at about sunset I found a treasure in the Cumberland mountains of East Tennessee. There near the Powell River, I discovered a church that my Great-Great-Great Grandfather Levi Brooks planted right after the Civil War. I found his name in a book and tracked him down. There I watched the sun set over the trees and I pondered Psalm 121:1, “I lift my eyes to the mountains. Where does my help come from?” My ancestor watched the same sun set over the same mountains 150 years before. Even better, he worshiped the same God. God keeps his covenant of love for generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. Is that you? Let it be!
