Deuteronomy 6:6-9. Place the Words of God On Our Hearts-my devotional
Place the Words of God On Our Hearts
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 Kevin E. jesmer 8-4-15
Key verse: 6:6
“ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. “
In this series on Deuteronomy chapter six, we are discussing ways in which we can guard or hearts while at the same time receiving God’s abundant blessings. In this section, we will discover how placing the word of God in our hearts will prove very effective in guarding our hearts.
Having the commands of God on our hearts, comes from a daily meditation on the word of God. Look at verse 8,
“8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.”
We can impress the word of God on our hearts when we make the word of God as part of daily lives. How easy it is to make, placing God’s word on our hearts, a “Sunday thing”? We want to make a clear distinction between church and our daily living the rest of the week. But to be really effective in guarding our hearts, we must make the mediation of God’s word an intimate part of our daily lives.
When the word of God is on our hearts we can share them with the people around us. First, we will are called to impress the commands of God on our children. Look at verses 7,
“7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
We spend everyday with our kids. We are constantly interacting with them. Within that interaction God provides so many opportunities, to share his word with them, as we do life together. When those teachable moments arise, we need to be ready to impress the word of God on their hearts. When we are prepared and ready to impress the word of God on our kids, (or the equivalent), our hearts are protected.
We are to talk about God’s word with people who live in our homes. Look at verse 7,
“ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
At home there are many opportunities to talk about God’s word. There are times of relaxation, eating together, working together around the home. We talked about the kids, but there are so many teachable moments with the adults in our homes, who are doing life together. I have heard of families in the Middle East and Northern Africa with 20 to 100 people living in the same complex. Now there are some great opportunities to share the words of God.
Be ready to share God’s word with those we meet along the road. (7) On the roads there are many different kinds of people, friends, neighbors, acquaintances, and total strangers. These people are members of our community. God wants us to share God’s word with all of these, as we interact with these community members. I go on frequent walks in the community. Along the roads and paths, I meet so many people and have chances to engage them conversation. Even a kind “hello” is enough to let them know I care about them. When we are intent on doing this, and follow through with it, then our hearts are guarded.
We are to share God’s word with our spouses or roommates. Look at verse 7c,
“…when you lie down and when you get up.”
You lie down and get up with your spouse, or your roommates, or your siblings, Husbands and wives should talk about God’s word during their “pillow talk” time. Roommates can share with each other, what they have learned from the Bible, each evening, or when they battle for use of the bathroom in the morning, or when wolfing down their breakfast.
We can impress the word of God on our hearts, embellishing the décor of our homes with the word of God. Look at verse 9,
“Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
Some people put Bible verses on their refrigerators, or their bedrooms, or the bathroom mirror. They put verses on decorative plaques on the wall…anywhere to remind them of God’s word.
Door frames and gates are places where people enter our homes. When we put the word of God there, we are literally declaring to all that enter our homes that our homes are places where the word of God is to be on our hearts. Everyone who enters knows that God is top priority for the household living there. It is akin to Joshua’s declaration in Joshua 24;15,
“15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Making a pubic declaration that we are serving the Lord by putting the word of God on our hearts, helps to guard our hearts.
We can see that in order to guard our hearts, the word of God must be on our hearts. This takes a daily decision to make time for the word of God. It involves sharing God’s word with the people around us…from those in the most intimate relationships with us; to strangers on the road. When the word of God is on our hearts, that word can overflow to others that we do life with. When we embrace the task to have the word of God on our hearts, and see them impressed on others, then we are guarding our hearts.
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