“What doth the Lord require”?
“What doth the Lord require”?
Deuteronomy 10:12; Micah 6:8.
God’s requirement has two major dimensions that are fundamental to our relationship with Him. First, the general requirements as listed in the text such as the demands of His reverential fear, His worship, His love, and service. These are milestones that we must have settled before we can delve into His concise demands over our personal lives.
The personal requirements may be the reaching of a deeper depth of the general requirements or a total distinct individualized command to be performed as seen in the case of the young rich ruler in Mark 10:21. Many people fail at this juncture because it usually touches the very elements that we esteem as the crowning jewel of our lives. Abraham was given an abrupt command to sacrifice His son Isaac. There were several reasonable excuses why he should have declined. Even society and some arms of the church today would have agreed with Him if he declined. But this man understood and submitted to the wisdom of God, and his life got the better for it.
God’s demand from us might sometimes seem “foolish”, He might even demand something we never thought we could live without. We must understand that He will never demand anything that He has not provided grace for us to accomplish, neither does He demand anything from us that would not make us the better- I Corinthians 1:25; 1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. We must however note that God’s demands are best received at the altar of fellowship with Him.
In conclusion, we must be careful of spinning a false web in carrying out certain ordinances and equating them to the express demand of God. First, Whatever requirement, either general or personal, it must align with the tenets of the scripture; it must be devoid of self and never a product of mere mind thoughts.