+DEV+ This Is Most Important!

Date: August 11, 2013 5:35 PM
Topic: +DEV+  This Is Most Important!

This Is Most Important!

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)
Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 6

The Hebrew language is rich in its clarity of meaning. One important Old Testament verb is "shama," found 1,160 times in the Bible. We translate it as "listen" or "hear", its use implying that the speaker wants the hearer to listen carefully. In other words, pay attention; this is important!

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is called the shama because it begins with, "Hear, O Israel". After leading the Hebrew nation for 40 years, Moses was soon to die. During those years he had taught them all he knew about God and now was delivering his final speech. Can you hear his passion for them to follow God completely? "Listen up, people," he says. "Pay attention! This is most important!"

God longs for us today to pay attention to the importance of His commands and blessings. "Do what is right and good in the Lord's sight," He says "so that it may go well with you ...."  (Deuteronomy 6:18). Today's troubles may convince you that life is not going well at all. Stand firm in the Lord your God; He will see you through.

Insight: The child Jesus would have been taught the shama. Not surprising, then, that when asked what the greatest commandment was, He quoted it (Mark 12:30).



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