The Ten Commandments: Devotions From Time of GraceNäide

The First Commandment: Fear God In The Fire   

Fire means serious business! Firearms aren’t toys. Getting fired changes things. “These are the commandments the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice . . . there on the mountain from out of the fire” (Deuteronomy 5:22). God delivered the Ten Commandments “from out of the fire.” They are not personal options like settings on your phone. They are serious business!

How serious are you about God? Hearts burning with passion in the first months of being a believer or by becoming part of a mission project often smolder into ashen embers. Busyness of life deceptively dampens any deep communion with God found in the constant, quiet moments of Scripture and prayer. Awe for God grows cold and “same old.”

How can we reignite it?

“Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you. . . . For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:23,24). There is only one sure way to rekindle a burning awe for God. It’s not in our resolve but in God’s burning passion to love and forgive and save us. 

You are the object of his fierce loyalty, his jealous grace. When you don’t burn with passion for God, by grace he burns with passion for you. His jealous grace wants you, wants everything there is about you (even your sinful mistakes and messes), and wants your reignited loyalty and love.

Like the three men in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3), find your awe for God in his jealous grace.