Daily Thoughts from Deuteronomy 6:4-7: Hear (Sh’ma)

8. Hear (Sh’ma)

Hear, Isra’el! Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone; and you are to love Yahweh your God with all your heart, all your being and all your might.  These words, which I am ordering you today, are to be on your heart; and you are to teach them carefully to your children. You are to talk about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

(D’varim 6:4-7)

The words of Moshe were the words of God.  And here was the heart of the law.  The mitzvot of God were the words of love to His people.  And His people’s obedience was their message of love back to Him.

He had seen plenty of people who wore their obedience like precious pearls…so obviously expensive and so obviously for the sake of impressing others that no one ever thought of giving glory to the King of heaven for such righteousness.  Indeed, that was not righteousness, at least not sufficient righteousness to get one into the kingdom.  It was not love with all one’s heart and might.

If love for God was what was moving their lives they would not have cared what others saw, only what God saw.  If love for God was what was moving them they would not put God to the test, demanding that He act in a way that benefitted them, as Moshe said Israel did at Massah.  You do not challenge the one you love to prove their love for you.

“I love you, Father, and I don’t enjoy this testing.  I don’t like going to sleep every night in fear of being attacked, nor waking in the morning with the same feeling.  But You have proved Your love for me and I will not question it.  Thank you for these words of Moshe today.”

He began to sing the words.

Sh’ma, Ysrael, Yahweh Elohenu; Yahweh echad.

Somehow singing them made them even more powerful.  Despite the growing physical weakness he was feeling from lack of food, his spirit felt strengthened.  He felt he could sit in the den of lions with Daniel and not flinch in the slightest.

He decided to take a walk around the escarpment, almost hoping he would run into this large cat, because he knew that God was going to take care of him.  As he walked he began to think better of this.  Was he expecting God to do something to prove His love?  What if God allowed the cat to attack him?  Would that demonstrate that God did not love him?  Of course not!

The walk was okay.  Any expectations that its safety had to be certain were not.

He decided to inspect the stone spillway John had constructed to siphon water into the cistern.  Perhaps the rain had caused some of the stones to slide apart.  Sure enough, one or two had.  They were fairly large stones, however, and though he could have strained and pushed himself to reposition them, it seemed smarter to fill in the gaps with smaller stones.

All in all, for a man who was fasting, it was a rigorous day and when he got back he was exhausted.  The one benefit of this was that as it got dark and the red eyes reappeared in the distance, he was too tired to care.  He went quickly to sleep with a prayer on his lips that the Father would have His way in his life.