Numbers 14-Judges 9

I’m back! My week in Atlanta visiting Candler was fantastic, but I didn’t have my laptop with me, so blogging unfortunately didn’t happen. Reading, however, did happen—so that is good news! And I am home this week, so I should be able to blog more regularly again.

So, Numbers 14-Judges 9. It is basically impossible to cover all that ground in one blog, so I won’t even pretend to try. But since this is a Shema Summer, it seems wrong to reflect on anything but this:

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” –Deut 6.4-9 NRSV

This is one of my favorite passages in the entire Bible. For some time, this has been a formational passage for me—it reminds me of who I am and what I am called to do. As a person of faith, these words of Scripture speak to me—I am commanded to love the LORD alone. My life is to be shaped by the words of Torah, by God’s commandments, by Scripture. I am to remember these words always, in the midst of my everyday life.

A hunger to do just that led me to major in Bible, which has proven to be an incredible opportunity to engage and remember God’s truth. But the kind of remembering described by Deut 6.4-9 is much deeper than reading, writing, or thinking—this kind of remembering is a form of living.

We can read the Old Testament this summer. We can write insightful blogs about God’s truth. We can ponder the deep questions of life and faith. But if it doesn’t shape the way we live, we haven’t truly remembered.

Bind God’s truth on your hand. Fix it as an emblem on your forehead. Write it on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Remember God’s truth with every step you take.