Listen to God: Deuteronomy 6

“O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey” (Deut. 6:3, NASB).

Sometimes we hear, but we do not listen. One day I saw a mother walking down the street with her child. The mother had her child on a lease. I thought about this because I had never seen this done before. I thought about what I was seeing. Why would a mother have her child on a lease? The mother had her child on a lease for the same reason that people walk their dogs with a lease. Dogs and little children are easily distracted. They are prong to go their own way and this might mean danger. Even though the dog owner and the mother might call out their voices might be heard without the appropriate response from the dog and the child. The lease is beneficial in that it keeps the dog and the child safe when something dangerous occurs and the dog and the child do not listen to the warnings of their care takers. Sometimes we hear, but we do not listen.

What is the difference between hearing and listening? Hearing is the ability to hear sound. We hear a sound, but like the dog and the child we may not respond to what we hear. On the other hand the word listen means that we pay attention to the stimulus and respond to the voice. The Hebrew word “Shama” is translated into both the English words “hear” and “listen.” It is most often used in the context of obedience. In this article we learn that God wanted the children of Israel to listen to His commandments so that they would be successful in the Promised Land that the Lord had promised to their forefathers. We will discuss what this means to us Christians today.

Before we look at our scripture passage, let us look at the incident that took place at Mount Sinai when the Lord first gave the Ten Commandment. In Exodus 19 God commanded Moses to prepare (consecrate) the people to meet Him. On the third day “there was thunder and lightning flashes And a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.” The people heard the sounds, but they had not heard God’s commandments that they were expected to listen to and obey. In Exodus 20 God came to the mountain and spoke the Ten Commandments to all the people. The sounds caused the people to tremble (20:18), but they were unable to listen to the Lord’s words. “Then they said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen: but let not God speak to us, or we will die” (20:19, NASB). Did you get that? The people were willing to pay attention to Moses, but they were afraid to hear the Lord speak to them.

In Deuteronomy 6 Moses tells the people that the Lord had spoken, and they were to listen to His words. Moses said: “Now this is the commandments, the statues and the judgments which the LORD your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statues and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged” (Deut. 6:1-2 NASB). The people could not expect that God would give them success in the Promised Land if they did not listen to the words of the Lord. How would they demonstrate that they listened to the Lord? As stated above, the word listen is associated with obedience. Why must we obey the commands of the Lord/

First, when we obey the Lord we demonstrate our allegiance to Him. In the land that the people were going to the natives of the land worshiped many gods. In every location there was a god that was worshiped. For every need that the native people had they had a god for that. On the other hand, the children of Israel had only one God. They were to acknowledge the Lord only. The Lord only had delivered them from bondage in Egypt. In Egypt Pharaoh and his gods ruled the people. The Lord had come down to His people. With a mighty hand the Lord defeated Pharaoh and his gods. God defeated Egypt using ten plagues and by drowning Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea. Now Israel was the Lord’s possession and they were to have no gods beside Him (See Exod. 20:1-7).

We demonstrate our faith and trust in the Lord when we listen to His commandments. After Pharaoh had given Moses and the children of Israel permission to leave Egypt, Pharaoh changed his mind. He took his chariots and chased after the Hebrew people. The people were trapped between Pharaoh’s army and the sea. The people feared for their lives. They cried out to the Lord (Exod. 14:10), and they complained to Moses because Moses had led them to certain death ((vv. 11-12). However, Moses told the people that they could believe in the Lord. They should trust the Lord to protect them. “But Moses said to the people “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again” (v. 13). “The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent” (v. 14, NASB).

We acknowledge the sovereignty of God when we listen to His commandments. This means that God is our only God. We do not include other gods in our decisions on how we will live our life. God is sovereign because He has the power, knowledge and wisdom, and presence to enforce His will. That God is sovereign means that no other god among the natives could challenge God. God is the creator of all things. All things are under His control. The children trapped at the Red Sea believed that Pharaoh would kill them. God demonstrated His power over that which the people were most afraid of. God opened the sea and dried the land so that the children of Israel crossed to the other side. When Pharaoh’s army attempted to pursue God’s people, the waters receded and the army drowned in the sea. What does this mean for God’s people today?

First, God is immutable; meaning that God does not change. His words are eternal; meaning that what God said yesterday He is saying today and forever. Thus, although the situations may change, and they might be different in various places and in many times, the principles of what God said never change. People worship different gods. Today, we do not bow down to statues that we have on our shelves in our homes. An idol is anything and anyone that we put ahead of God. The gods of America in 2021 are different than those in ancient Israel, but regardless, God’s command that we have no other gods beside Him remains true. Moses reminded the people of this truth when he said, “Hear O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one” (Deut. 6:4, NASB). The people are to listen and obey the commandments of the Lord only.

In America today, we may make reference to God but we do not necessarily love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and might (v. 5). Rather, we often show our lack of allegiance to the Lord by putting the wisdom of the world above the wisdom of the Lord. We rationalize reasons that we do not need to obey the commands of the Lord that are plainly stated in the Bible; God’s word written (See 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:20-21). We say that the Law is not valid today; that it was for those people in those days, but Jesus came to fulfill the Law. We are participating in sins saying that we cannot keep the law and we are saved by grace. Grace means that God gives us opportunities to get things right. Grace is not permission to do as we please. Let me remind us of this warning from Jesus: “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!” (Matt. 18:7, NASB).

It is true that all of us have the sin nature in us even though we may have given our life to Jesus Christ. We sometimes yield to temptation and fall short of the mark of God’s glory. This does not give us reason to say that God’s words are no longer true in today’s world. John in his epistle 1 John shows us this truth when he said, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us” (1 Jn. 1:8-10, NASB). God extends grace and mercy because we continue to be guilty of sin. We hear the words of God but we do not listen to what God is saying. We are not careful to obey His words and the result is that we suffer as a result of our sins. Hearing God’s word is insufficient. We must listen to what God is saying. We must obey His commandments.