CHAPTER 1
To Whom Will We Give Our Allegiance?
In Whom Will We Put Our Trust?
Deuteronomy 6:1-8
Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the LORD your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, so that you and your children and your children's children may fear the LORD your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.
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.
Her name was Mary Lou. His name was tom. they were both in their eighties, and they were celebrating their sixtieth wedding anniversary.
A news reporter was there to cover the big event, and he asked this question: "Mr. Tom, so many marriages are failing today, and yet here you and your wife are, celebrating sixty years together. How did you do it? What is your secret?"
Mr. Tom didn't even have to think for a minute how to answer that question. Without a moment of hesitation, Mr. Tom said with a warm smile, "Well, the answer is on the face of my watch." He said, "Mary Lou's father gave me this watch as a wedding present on the day we were married, and over the years this watch has played a large part in giving us a happy marriage." The reporter didn't understand until he looked more closely. Inscribed across the face of the watch were these words: Tom, tell Mary Lou you love her!
Think of that—every time he looked to see what time it was over all of their sixty years together, there was that message from his father-in-law: Tom, tell Mary Lou you love her!
Tom's father-in-law was a smart man. He realized how much all of us need good reminders, how much all of us need to be constantly reminded of who we are and whose we are and what we should be about.
Two men were talking one day over lunch. The first man said, "My wife has a terrible memory, the worst memory I ever heard of." The second man asked, "Forgets everything, huh?" And the first man replied, "No—remembers everything!"
Most of us are the other way around. We are so forgetful. We just have a lot of trouble remembering things, and consequently we have to come up with all kinds of creative ways to remind us of what we need to be doing.
Some, of course, use the classic reminder of tying a string around their finger.
Others have gotten more technically advanced—they call themselves on the telephone and leave themselves a message in voice mail or on their home answering machine.
Others e-mail themselves a message reminder.
Some rely on their secretaries to remind them of their priorities of the day.
Others put a sticky note on the steering wheel of their car.
Still others write down a list and put it in their pocket—but then they have to tie a string around their finger or put a sticky note on the steering wheel to remind them to look at the list in their pocket!
Now, this problem of being forgetful is not a new challenge. It's as old as the Bible itself. That's precisely what this famous passage in Deuteronomy 6 is really all about. Moses is reminding the people that "the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing"! He does this by giving them the Shema. It's recorded in Deuteronomy 6:4, one of the mountain-peak moments in all of the Bible, the Great Commandment of the Bible: "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" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).
Now, let me tell you why Moses is giving the people this Great Commandment at this time. Moses has led the people out of Egyptian slavery. They have been a nomadic people traveling in the wilderness for a long time, depending on God for everything, and now two very dramatic things are about to happen to them. First, they are about to cross over into the promised land. Second, Moses can't go with them. He has grown old and weak now, and Moses will not be with them to lead them into the promised land as they establish themselves there. Moses will not be with them to remind them constantly that they are God's covenant people, God's servant people, and they must put their trust in God and God alone.
So to help the people remember, Moses "ties a string around their finger" by giving them this Great Commandment to constantly remind them to put God first and to serve God alone and to put their faith and trust in God alone. "No other gods. Love God alone with all your heart, soul, and might." Put these words on the doorposts of your homes. Put these words on the gates of your city. Wear them on your armbands and headbands. Speak them in every worship service. Teach them to your children. Don't give in to the temptation to worship the gods of the Canaanites. Don't water down or contaminate your faith. Don't chase after every new fad that comes along. Just put your trust in Yahweh. Serve God and God alone.
For all those years, the Hebrew people had struggled to survive in the wilderness. Now, they have come to the promised land. They had dreamed of this. They had longed for this. They had prayed for this. But Moses knew that now, as they went into the land, they would face an even more dangerous problem: other people already lived there, and these people had their own set of gods they worshiped. They had a god of wine, a god of war, a god of fertility, and a god of this, that, and the other. And Moses knew that as his people settled in, some of these gods would look attractive to the Hebrews, so much so that they might begin to worship them. So Moses gave them this Great Commandment to be a constant and daily reminder to worship, serve, and trust God alone, to love God (and no other) with all your heart, soul, and might.
That Great Commandment is as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago when Moses first spoke it because it's all about choices, decisions, commitments, loyalties, and priorities. It's about deciding to whom will we give our allegiance; in whom will we put our trust? Let me bring this closer to home for us with three thoughts that emerge naturally out of this story of Moses and the Great Commandment.
First of All, When We Face an Uncertain Future, Remember God
As the Hebrew people marched into this new adventure in the promised land, with all of its challenges and uncertainties and new opportunities, Moses gave them the Great Commandment to remind them to put God first, to worship God alone, to not be taken in by false prophets or gimmicky religion, and to remember God's promise to always be with them.
Remember that scene in the great musical The Sound of Music where Captain von Trapp and Maria return from their honeymoon to discover that the Nazis have taken over Austria and that they are trying to force Captain von Trapp into their military service? The von Trapps have come to the abbey for refuge and to escape, but the nuns of the abbey tell them that all of the roadways are blocked at the border. Captain von Trapp decides that they will have to abandon their borrowed car and walk over the mountains the rest of the way. Maria is worried about the seven children making such a long, difficult and dangerous journey.
But then the kind Mother Abbess, quoting from Psalm 121:1, tells them, "You will not be alone. Remember, 'I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help.' ... God be with you." And off they go, into an unknown future, but confident that God will be with them and that God will see them through. And God did!
This is God's greatest promise, isn't it? We find it recorded over and over again in the Bible, on page after page of the Scriptures, God's promise to always be with us, God's promise to never forsake us, God's promise to give us the strength we need in every situation. Someone said that God always gives us the strength we need, but God doesn't give it to us in advance, or else we would take the credit.
So if you are going off to college or to a new school or a new job or a new marriage or a new home or a new location or a new challenge or a new opportunity or a new health situation, remember God. Remember God's love, strength, and great promise to always be with us.
That's number one: When you face an uncertain future, remember God, and trust.
Second, When We Are Tempted to Shortcut Our Best Selves, Remember God
When I was twelve years old, growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, I played one summer on a pretty good Junior League baseball team. That's what we called it back then, the Junior League; this was before Little League was created.
Our team representing the Hollywood section of Memphis made it all the way to the city championship game. In the last inning, we had a two-run lead with two outs, but the other team had the bases loaded. One more out was all we needed, and we would be city champs. The batter hit a routine ground ball to our third baseman. He fielded it cleanly and threw to first base. As our first baseman received the throw, the webbing in his glove broke, the ball went through, and before he could run and retrieve the ball, three runs had scored. The game was over, and we lost the city championship by one run!
In that game, I had been cleated by a runner sliding into second base. I stayed in the game, but I had a pretty deep cut on my leg. We were playing at the Memphis Fairgrounds, and the doctor who was onhand insisted that I go into the first-aid tent so that he could take a look at my leg. The coach told me to go on with the doctor. He said he would take my teammates on home (about a twenty-minute drive), and he would get somebody to wait for me and drive me home.
A few minutes later, as I came out of the tent, I couldn't believe my eyes. I couldn't believe who was waiting to drive me home in his truck. How could the coach do this to me? It was Mr. Tony. Mr. Tony was the last person I would have picked to drive me home. He was the town character, the town grouch! He was mean and tough, with a sour look and evil eyes. All of the young people and most of the adults in the Hollywood area of Memphis were scared to death of Mr. Tony. I was just twelve years old.
With fear and trembling, I got into the truck with Mr. Tony. With a frightened, squeaky voice, I said, "Thanks for waiting for me, Mr. Tony."
He grunted and scowled. For twenty minutes, we rode along in silence. It seemed like an eternity to me before we reached my house. As I got out of the car, I said, "Thanks for the ride, Mr. Tony." Mr. Tony looked at me with angry eyes, and he said, "So that's all you've got to say? 'Thanks'? How much gas do you think that's gonna buy?"
His harsh words were like a slap in the face, and I stammered, "I'm sorry, Mr. Tony. I don't have any money."
"Well, get on out of the truck!" he shouted.
I was hurt, stunned, and embarrassed. I got out of the truck and ran into the house. It was one of those awful, painful moments in life that you feel like you can never get over or forget. I dreaded seeing Mr. Tony after that, and I avoided him as much as I could, but when I did see him, the pain, the hurt, and the embarrassment would flood back into my mind.
Some years later, I was coming home from college for the weekend. When I arrived in Memphis, it was just getting dark. As I drove by the fairgrounds, I saw someone hitchhiking and holding up a sign that read Hollywood. I stopped, and—would you believe it?—the hitchhiker getting into my car, who do you think it was? That's right: It was Mr. Tony!
We rode along in silence. We came to my house and went ondown the road ten blocks or so further, and I pulled up right in front of Mr. Tony's house. As Mr. Tony started to get out of the car, he turned back and said, "Thanks a lot for the ride, Jim."
Now, you know what I wanted to say, don't you? Most every fiber of my being wanted me to say it. I was so tempted to say, "'Thanks'? 'Thanks'? How much gas do you think that's gonna buy?"
That's what I wanted to say. That's what I almost said, but just then I remembered something: I remembered God. I remembered Jesus and what he taught. I remembered my Christian faith, and, empowered by God's Holy Spirit, I said, "You are more than welcome, Mr. Tony! You can ride with me anytime! I'm always glad to help a friend!"
Moses knew the Hebrew people would face great temptations in their new land. He knew they would be tempted to do things not worthy of their sacred heritage. He knew they would be tempted to shortcut their best selves and contaminate their covenant faith. To fight that temptation off, Moses gave them this Great Commandment to love God alone with all their heart, soul, and might so that they would be sure to always remember God.
So, first, when we face the fears that go with the uncertainties of a new future, we can remember God with trust. And second, when we face the great temptations to be less than we are called to be, we can remember God with obedience.
Third and Finally, When We Have to Face Death, Then Too, Even Then, Especially Then, Remember God
Isn't it something to realize that Moses never made it to the promised land? He died just before they got there. He led the people out of Egyptian bondage. He led them through the Red Sea. He led them through the wilderness. He taught them how to be God's people. But when they came to a mountain where they could look over and see the new land, Moses realized that his body was old and weak and worn, and he didn't have the strength to go on. So he passed the torch to Joshua, and he let Joshua lead the people on into the land, while Moses stayed behind on the mountain alone to die.
Can you imagine how that must have felt for him, to be so near but yet so far, so close to the land he had dreamed of entering, and yet too old and too sick and too tired to go on? I can just imagine this conversation between Moses and God. I can hear Moses saying, "Lord, I know your plan is best, but I can't help but feel disappointed. I wanted so much to lead the people into the land. I had dreamed of that. I wanted that so badly, and now this. I'm so weak, so frail, so tired. If only I could have had a little more time."
And God answers, "Moses, Moses, you have served me well. You have done your best. It will very soon be time for you to come and live with me."
Moses looks down from the mountain, and he sees the people moving forward toward the promised land without him, and suddenly Moses feels so alone. Moses looks up to heaven, and quietly he says, "Are you with me, Lord? Are you with me?"
And the answer comes back: "Of course I am, Moses. Of course I am."
This is the good news of our faith. When we have to face an uncertain future, when we have to do battle with temptation, and, yes, even when we have to face our own death or the death of a loved one, we can remember God and the great promise to always be with us, and we can remember to love God with all our heart, soul, and might.
