The Secret Behind God’s Unparalleled Gifts and Demands

God always gives to us before He demands anything from us.

After the Golden Calf incident, God gave forgiveness, grace, and a renewed covenant to His people. In addition, He restored His presence among them.

He said, “I hereby make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth or in any nation,

“And all the people among whom you live shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you” (Exodus 34:10).

Our response to God’s presence should be a daily opening of our hearts and souls to see the work of the Lord. God doesn’t want to be hidden. He wants to show himself to us in various ways.

All the people make it clear that God’s gift is not just for an exclusive crowd. Rather, it is His gift to every human.

God’s awesome work is not limited to the days of Moses or the days of Jesus. His awesome work is something He wants us to experience.

We do well to cultivate a deep reverence for God’s presence and a profound sense of humility in the face of His activity in our lives.

God’s Requirements

The eternal principle is that God always gives before He demands from us. This does not negate the fact that God has requirements in our service for Him.

A very important command that God gave His people concerned what they would do with the taking the land of Canaan.

“Observe what I command you today. See, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

“Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, or it will become a snare among you.

“Rather, you shall tear down their altars, break their pillars, and cut down their sacred poles,[d] 14 for you shall worship no other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

“You shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, someone among them will invite you, and you will eat of the sacrifice,

“And you will take wives from among their daughters for your sons, and their daughters who prostitute themselves to their gods will make your sons also prostitute themselves to their gods” (Exodus 34.11-16).

As we apply God’s words to the Israelites to our present situation, one thing that becomes obvious is that just as they were to follow His guidance, so should we.

A good practice is to daily ask God, “What are your plans for me today?” Then, answer that by doing the next right thing, led by the Holy Spirit.

We agree with the Bible that the number one commandment is to love God with all our hearts.

If influences around us draw us away from that love, we should do as the Israelites were commanded. We should not bow down, worship, or serve anything that diminishes our love for God.

We are not going to go out into society and demolish pillars or cut down sacred poles.

However, we can examine our inner self and eliminate the obstacles that hinder a deep relationship with God.

Cleansing our hearts and soul from distractions should be something we do regularly.

God is pictured as a divine spouse. When we turn away from Him and turn to substitutes for God, He is rightfully jealous. He has every right to our exclusive love and devotion.

God and gods

Israel’s history resembles that of modern-day America. Israel wanted God, so they served Him according to the prescriptions laid out in the Five Books of Moses.

However, they did not destroy the idols of the land and tried to incorporate these idols into their worship of God.

The prophets continually attempted to pull them away from the worship of idols, which were nothing but substitutes for God. They wanted people to experience the joy of a true and faithful love for God.

It would serve us well to study the prophets and the writings of Jesus to understand how we should have God as our only object of affection.

YouTube Video

Rudy Ross, Whispering Danny, and I discuss this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.