The Portion of my Inheritance

For years I have been praying two particular scriptures daily. The first one is 2 Chronicles 7:14:

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

The second one is Deuteronomy 6:4-9:

“Hear, O Israel:  The Lord our God, the Lord is one!  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength,  and these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Then yesterday something wonderful happened and it has been burning in my heart.  God gave me a deeper insight to these very same scriptures, something that I had already known, just a deeper pressing into my heart when I read these words from Ann Spangler’s book, Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus:

“Torah study was a remarkable feature in Jewish life at the time of the Second Temple and during the period following it.  It was not restricted to the formal setting of schools and synagogue nor to sages only, but became an integral part of ordinary Jewish life.  The Torah was studied at all possible times, even if only a little at a time . . . . The sound of Torah learning issuing from houses at night was a common phenomenon.  When people assembled for a joyous occasion such as a circumcision or a wedding, a group might withdraw to engage in study  of the Law.” ~written by Jewish historian-Shmuel Safrai~

Can you imagine that?

Studying God Word and praying was a part of their everyday life!!  You could hear it going on in the homes and it was a “common phenomenon”!  They were actually living out Deuteronomy 6:4-9 in their everyday, normal, ordinary life!

I thought about life, here and now, and what would be a common theme that we would hear going on in the ordinary, normal home and my heart was stricken because the answer was terrifying!

Television ….Video games ….computers ….I-Phones ….and the list goes on and on, except for the one thing that God has required of us—-Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

We have exchanged our Holy God for all these earthy treasures, these idols that consume our time, out thoughts and our affections and they have taken His place. We have attached ourselves to things other than God. What we love with all our hearts and mind and strength and soul are the things that we spend our time on, thinking about, applying ourselves to and focusing on. And His word tells us, “Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them.” Deuteronomy 11:16. “know the truth, so you can recognize a lie.”

We all, like sheep, have gone astray and we think that seeking God consist of shooting up a prayer every now and then, or going to church on Sundays, or maybe just a Sunday here and there.  Maybe we feel like we have done our duty to God when we read a sentence or two of scripture.  Or maybe seeking God is giving money or patting someone nicely on the head or whatever we do to justify ourselves before God . . . and man.

And yet, as the prophet describes us, we are a stiff neck people, rotten through and through and we consider God lucky that He has us on His side and we are doing Him a great favor when we pray and do things in His name, and we have missed the mark.

Only when we have truly humbled ourselves and turn from these things that have taken His place, only when we truly seek His face, as in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, and cry out to Him, only then, will He hear our prayer, forgive our sin and heal our land.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 sums up “ABIDE” completely! “For in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 19:28a) 

And it starts HERE! In my home and in my family! I will live Deuteronomy 6:4-9 in my everyday,  normal, ordinary life.

I will teach it to my children, and my grandchildren. I will talk about it when I sit in my house, when I walk by the way, when I lie down and when I rise up. I will bind them as a sign on my hand, and they will be as frontlets between my eyes. I will write them on the doorpost of my house and on my gates. The Book of the Law will not depart from my mouth. I will meditate in it day and night.

Therefore you shall lay up these words of Mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth. For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do—to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him—Deuteronomy 11:18-22