Apr 26

“The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us…” Deuteronomy 5:3

God had made covenant with the forefathers of Israel also. Moses here reminds the people that the covenant God made, did not apply just to their forefathers, but that it was current, standing and binding for the present generation. These reminders are essential for us humans, because we tend to easily forget, casually amend and thoughtlessly put aside valuable things. The mindset which easily dismisses the biblical principles that have applied to other generations and times may be guilty of being selective in obedience, or at least lacking in poised and careful consideration. There may be some very specific things, which God may have meant only for an individual or a limited group of people, but we would be wrong in automatically discharging ourselves from the responsibility of any of God’s commands, without due study, prayer and consideration. The very least that can arise from this more careful approach is instruction, learning and understanding, which is always beneficial to anyone intent in serving God from a pure heart. In our progressive and contemporary minds, we can often too quickly do away with principles and practices that have stood for many generations, and have reaped the blessings of God. Some driving forces behind these ‘modern’ dismissals are a belief that if something is ‘old-fashioned’, it should be replaced, and the questionable desire to distance ourselves from previous generations, in most things. We somehow believe and act to say that we are naturally wiser and know better than they did ‘back then’. Some modern innovations have improved lifestyle and perhaps make ‘more sense’ than the practices of the past. The problem arises however when this thinking is applied wholesale to God’s Word and His eternal principles. This all too often results in the proverbial ‘baby being thrown out with the dirty water’! In other words, the preciousness and value of God’s directives, purposes and ways, established in the covenant of His Word, are wrongly and summarily ejected, discarded and swept out with the broom of modern change. The feeling that because we are the ‘present’ generation, we owe it to ourselves to ‘spring clean’ all things we deem passé, can procure more trouble and heartache for us than we might imagine. God’s principles and purposes cannot be so dismissed, without repercussion. We would do well to remember the ancient covenant He made with fathers of our faith, made permanent in His Word, and see how it applies to us in our present and contemporary generation.

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion