Commandments

Last night Jacob asked me if I knew what commandments were. I said I did and I asked him what he thought they were to which he said they were rules. He said he learned about them at school. I asked him where commandments came from and he said, “God.” I asked him why God gives commandments and he replied, “To keep the people safe in the land.” That wasn’t the answer I expected. I thought he would say that commandments were rules to make us good little girls and boys, but he replied with a better answer. An answer that is closer to the truth.
In the Old Testament, God gave the Ten Commandments along with the rest of the Law for a much bigger reason than to provide a moral code. Unfortunately, religious folks have tended to take moral codes and even God’s commandments and make them an end in and of themselves. But God didn’t give commandments to see who could follow them the best. He didn’t give commandments to see how miserable he could make life. He gave His commandments and truth to actually protect life. As Ravi Zacharias illustrated with the game of tennis in Recapture the Wonder, the rules protect the game but they are not the point of the game. The rules prevent exhaustion and when followed can prevent strife and confrontation. To say it another way, umpires know the rules better than most, but they never win the game; only the players do. God gave his laws to protect our lives and in fact prevent exhaustion. The people Jacob was referring to were the Israelites as they were going into the Promised Land that was occupied by people who did not know God or follow Him. God wanted to protect the people from the strife and exhaustion that occur when we go away from Him. The Author of life knows the best way to live life. The Israelites are like the rest of us and they could not keep the commandments. But that’s the most amazing part of God’s commandments. They point us to our ultimate need for Him and His grace. They point us to Christ. Only in Him can we find freedom from life lived apart from God or a life lived in a futile pursuit of moral codes. The “land” was a form of rest for the Israelites. They were resting in the purpose God has for their lives. When we belong to Christ we are at “rest” in Him. We are resting or trusting in Him and He transforms us into who we are meant to be. His grace empowers us to follow His commandments and those commandments protect our new life at “rest” in Him. Thank you Jacob for the reminder.