Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Do You Prioritize? | Torah | Exodus 20:18-20

Episode Date: July 4, 2022

Do you fear the Lord? What does it even mean to fear God? Do you have a relationship with God? Do you prioritize spending time with God on a regular basis? In today's episode, Tanya talks about God's covenant with his people in Exodus 20:18-20. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Exodus 20:18-20

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmeth, and right now we're in the book of Exodus. Eric and I have four kids, and they're going to be in middle school, high school, and college next year. And I also have a chance to mentor people around the same ages as my kids. And for the young adults, I get to mentor, I hear them talk about their parents, and I wonder, am I doing the things they're complaining about to my own kids?

and as a mom, I'm wondering, what are my kids telling people about me? When I hear young adults talking about their parents, they usually want two things. They want a relationship and they want freedom. And when I hear parents talking about their kids, they also want two things. They want a relationship and they want kids who don't mess up. Parents especially have a hard time with transitions. Whether it's kindergarten or college, we struggle with freedom and limits and how to protect our kids and when to let them fail.

It comes from a place of love, but we don't always do it well. Now, when the Israelites are in moments of transition, God is always perfectly prepared to say exactly what they need to hear and give them exactly what they need to know. And he always perfectly reminds them of his love while clearly commanding them with his instruction. He's never too soft or too harsh. He is the perfect father.

So while the Israelites camp at Mount Sinai, God prepares them for the next phase. And this is what Exodus tells us just after the 10th commandment. It says, Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled. And they stood far off and said to Moses,

You speak to us and we'll listen, but do not let God speak to us lest we die. And Moses said to the people, do not fear for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not send. Now, Moses is telling them not to fear, but to have fear of the Lord. So what does that even mean? Well, we shouldn't be surprised at first that they're even afraid. After all, the thunder and the lightning,

it would have taken them back to Egypt, and it would have reminded them at the time that God sent hail on the Egyptians to destroy the land and the livestock. So Pharaoh would let the Israelites go. So they, of course, would have wondered, is God going to wipe us out also? But God wasn't wiping them out. he was inviting them into a covenant relationship with him, and that relationship meant they needed to be obedient. When I was a little girl, my church showed a rapture movie in the fellowship hall. And after that, I was afraid of staying home alone because I thought I might miss out when God came to rapture my parents. I even called people I thought were good Christians, and then I hung up when they answered the phone.

I mean, this is embarrassing, but mostly because my fear of God was completely out of context of the relationship that God offers. I was afraid of God, but I didn't have fear of God. So let's look at a scripture in the Bible to figure out what it means to fear the Lord. Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 6. Moses is acting as a mediator at the request of the Israelites, and he's relaying God's commands to the people. And he explains what comes to be called the greatest commandment.

But first, he talks about how fear and love must work together to enjoy covenant relationship. He explains that they have to have fear of the Lord so they can keep his statues and commands. And then he says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. What does this tell us about God and what fear of God really means? Well, first of all, it tells us something.

about God's heart. It tells us that he is jealous for the right reasons. God wants our complete love and attention because he knows he is the only way for the Israelites. He's the only way for us to have life and have it to the full. And it tells us that God created us for relationship with him. He doesn't give us commands that are arbitrary and they're not irrelevant and they're not outdated. He gives us commands and so that we can begin relationship with him. So we can experience the fullness of that. He tells us what to do and he tells us what not to do because he loves us and because we can trust him

and because everything he's ever done and ever said is perfect. So if we get confused and off-centered, we come back to the main thing, the greatest command. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and your strength and your soul. but we are like the Israelites. We need reminders. See, we are fickle.

We get sidetracked. We start looking horizontally instead of vertically. We look at what others have. We look at what others are doing. And then we determine how high or how low we rank and we make adjustments to move higher. We forget the fear of the Lord. And we fear man and it takes over.

And it's obvious because we're looking around us to find our meaning and our purpose and our value. We're also vulnerable. We have an active enemy who wants to distract us from God. Jesus taught us how we should fear the Lord. When Satan took Jesus up to someplace high and tried to distract him and promised to give him all that he saw, along with all the glory and authority, Jesus responded, it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. See, when we succumb to fear, of lesser things, we are serving them. They get control over us and they control our motivations and our desires. Just for example, are you a people pleaser? If so, you know exactly what it

feels like to fear man and let that control the things you say, the things you wear, and the things you do. So the big takeaway is that looking vertically toward God changes the way we seek meaning, purpose and value. God redeems those things when we have fear of him. Our relationship with God impacts all other relationships. So whether we're parents, employers, roommates, spouses, our time with God is essential for the way we relate to the world. God was commanding the Israelites to keep the fear of him before them all the time so that they could keep the main thing, the main thing. I have a friend who drives a Tesla, and one of the offices she has to visit every week is about an hour away from home.

So she was worried that our Tesla wouldn't make the commute to work and back to home, especially in the winter. And she had a charging station installed at that office. This is the kind of intentionality we practice with a lot of things that need our attention, with a lot of things that we're afraid might happen. To fear the Lord is to know that our relationship with God is the thing that needs our most attention and to make plans and efforts to prioritize it. If someone's invited you to a Bible study or small group, try it.

If there's a class you can take at your church to become a member, sign up. If there's someone on your street you can pray with, ask them. Whatever it is, make it a priority and watch what will happen. Lord, we ask that you will give us the desire to put you first, to have a healthy fear of you. We pray that we'll live in healthy fear and awe because we understand more and more. of who you are and because we love you. And we pray that through this, we'll help others know you more. Amen. Before you forget, sign up for the brand new TMBT newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help you beat the midweek slump and go deeper

in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.