Wise and Understanding

It’s beyond us. Deuteronomy 4.1-10

Jesus throughout the Scriptures: Deuteronomy (4)

Pray Psalm 28.8, 9.
The LORD is their strength,
And He is the saving refuge of His anointed.
Save Your people,
And bless Your inheritance;
Shepherd them also,
And bear them up forever.

Sing Psalm 28.8, 9.
(Angel’s Story: O Jesus, I Have Promised)
Our strength are You, O Savior, our strong defense and sure.
Anointed with Your favor, we rest in You secure.
Save us, and bless us, Jesus, upon us turn Your face.
With shepherd’s care, LORD, keep us forever in Your grace.

Preparation
1. What did God intend for His people?

2. How would they fulfill that calling?

Meditation
It could hardly be clearer than this: The way into God’s promises and the blessings of life they hold is through obedience to His commandments, judgments, and precepts, and to all the Word of God. This makes reading, studying, meditating on, and obeying the Law of God and all His Word among the most important things we can do.

However, as we know, obedience and the righteousness that blossoms from it are not available to us except through the Wisdom and Understanding of God.

Israel could not fulfill this calling, and their failure is a lesson to us all. They could have done better at it, but they preferred the ways of the surrounding nations and cultures to the ways of God and His Word—just as we too often do.

Nevertheless, the promise of their being a wise and understanding people by keeping all His Law points forward to the One Who accomplished this calling and who was the very Wisdom of God and the Treasury of all understanding. When we are being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 3.12-18) and our churches are becoming communities of love and service for Jesus (Eph. 4.11-16), the watching world will see something not only different but desirable. (cf. Mic. 4.1-8).

But for now, churches do not have much wisdom and understanding to display to their communities. Many of us are shrunken in our view of the Gospel, withdrawn into our own little worlds, and too comfortable to be troubled by our neighbor’s needs. All that could change if, like Jesus, we took God’s Law and all His Word more seriously (Matt. 5.13-19). For then we would see Him and, by the inward working of His Spirit, become more like Him.

It is so good to start the day with the Word of God, and to resort to it frequently throughout the day, to delight and rejoice in it, to be confronted and convicted by it, to gain insight into every next step so that we may do the will of God with joy. For in doing so, the Wisdom and Understanding of God will make us a light to our world.

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
When each part of the Body of Christ is functioning as it should—each one daily in the Word and continuously in prayer—the world will look and say, “Surely this great nation [church] is a wise and understanding people” (Deut. 4.6). And imagine if all the church members, of all the churches and denominations, corporately lived according to God’s Law; well, the world would be rushing to be a part of this Kingdom:
“Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths” (Is. 2.2, 3).

God never put a burden on us to be something or someone that we are not. We are only called to be the person He has created, doing His work, in His Kingdom, to “glorify God and to enjoy Him forever” (Shorter Catechism). Obediently following Him.

How hard is it to keep the Law? We are filled with the Holy Spirit Who wants us to be successfully obedient.
“Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but such as keep the law contend with them” (Prov. 28.4). We can don our courageous capes, contending with evil, merely by quietly keeping the Law.

God said not to add or subtract from His Words.
God said to Keep His commandments (Deut. 4.2).

And when we do, even “the haters of the LORD [will] pretend submission to Him” (Ps. 81.15).

Everywhere we look in Scripture Jesus is there. He came to earth as God, but in the form of a human being, to show us that God’s requirements can be kept. With His help. His guidance. His leadership. The perfect example for us to follow into this new world of living only for Him. And contrary to what some may teach, this is not a burdensome or onerous task—it is our joy. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (Jn. 10.10). And, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16.33).

“Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your Name, O LORD God of hosts” (Jer. 15.16). To be in God’s Word is not drudgery. It is not something that is an ought to; it is an overwhelming want to. To spend time with the Triune God in fellowship, One-to-one, is the best part of every day. It is an amazing privilege. We are invited to converse with The King. To gain our sustenance. It is as Job described: “I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23.12).

And all it takes is for God’s people to observe and do His Law.
As our accomplished Savior said, “You follow Me” (Jn. 21.22).

Living for Jesus a life that is true,
Striving to please Him in all that I do;
Yielding allegiance, gladhearted and free,
This is the pathway of blessing for me.

O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to Thee,
For Thou, in Thy atonement, Didst give Thyself for me;
I own no other Master,
My heart shall be Thy throne;
My life I give, henceforth to live,
O Christ, for Thee alone.
(Thomas O. Chisholm, 1917)

Reflection
1. Can you think of any areas in which you need to grow in wisdom and understanding?

2. Jesus can give us more of each of these. How should you seek these from Him?

3. How do you expect your witness for Christ to change as you grow in wisdom and understanding?

In order that they may set themselves more cheerfully about the keeping of the Law, and may proceed more steadily in this endeavor, he reminds them that nothing is better or more desirable for themselves. For God is not duly honored, except with ready minds and voluntary obedience, to which we are rather attracted by pleasure than forced by rigor and violence.. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Deuteronomy 4.6

Pray Psalm 28.1-7.
Thank Jesus for His shepherding love. Seek wisdom and understanding for your daily tasks. Pray that He will give you strength to be a light of His love to the people you encounter today.

Sing Psalm 28.1-7.
(Angel’s Story: O Jesus, I Have Promised)
I cry to You, our Savior, O, be not deaf to me!
LORD, speak to me with favor, lest I should dying be.
Hear now my supplications when for Your help I cry.
Receive these, my oblations, before Your throne on high.

LORD, count me not among those who walk in sinful ways.
With words of peace their tongue glows while evil fills their days.
Your works they disregard, LORD, while evil fills their hands.
Destroy them by Your Word, LORD, and let them no more stand.

Blessed be the Name of Jesus, for He will hear our prayer.
His strength protects and shields us with mercy and with care.
In You our heart rejoices; You help us by Your Word.
To You we raise our voices to praise and thank You, LORD.

T. M. and Susie Moore

If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.