"O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!"
Deuteronomy 5:29
This just seems amazing to me... it is God speaking, and wishing that we would be good, so that everything would go okay for us. It just seems to exude love. :) Or maybe not exude... radiate, broadcast... God just wants us to be okay. :) I love that.
Interesting too that he mentions the heart. The Book of Mormon talks about a change of heart, and a broken heart and a contrite spirit... seems like we need to get our hearts in line. It makes sense to me. Usually, when I make a bad choice, it seems to be because I love something or someone more than I love God. When I get my heart straight, then those things aren't challenging anymore... or at least a LOT less challenging.
The fear part is interesting too. The context is that God appeared in the fire and cloud to the Israelites, and they heard his voice speaking to them, and they were afraid, in the sense that they were afraid that they would die if they endured too much of his glory. They could see how powerful and ... uh, god-like... God was. :) I don't think it was about being horrified or scared of him, but fearing in the sense of respecting his greater ability, intelligence, etc. And in that sense, I think that we need to fear him a lot more. We are nothing compared to God... we reason on a amazingly lower level. We can't see what is ahead. If we don't do the work that it takes to keep God in our lives, then we're only hurting ourselves. And, in this verse, God wishes that we wouldn't hurt ourselves so much. He truly, deeply loves us. Let's remember to keep him in our lives today. :)
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