Knowing Who He Is...

Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (ESV)

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Devotional:

I remember as a kid drilling math cards to remember my multiplication tables.  I was never really good in school and like most kids did not want to go.  At the time I couldn’t stand it.  I had to go over the cards over and over until I could remember three times three is eight, oh wait that is nine.  I had to drill until I knew six times six was thirty-six.  Well you get the idea.  It seemed to me like hours and hours a day going over those stupid little cards.  The funny thing is that to this day I still have a majority of those little facts stuck in my head.

God knew the best way for His people to know Him and remember His laws was to have it continuously in front of them.  To this day I still have trouble with memorizing things.  But there are several Bible verses I do have memorized.  Why, it is because I read them, and then reread them.  It isn’t something I sit down and go over continuously until I have it memorized.  I read the Bible on a regular basis.  I go over different scriptures, some more than others.  Eventually they were committed to memory. 

Why is it important to know the Scripture?  Why did God tell us in the Bible to put His words on our hearts, to teach them to our children, to eat and sleep with His word?  Because without it we would stray.  OK, we stray anyways but it is a lot easier without it.  There is also another reason.  God’s word is part of the armor of God.  God’s word is the sword of truth.  It is how we defend ourselves against the enemy.  It is how we attack the enemy.  Jesus Himself used the word of God against Satan.  Matthew 4:1-11 (ESV):

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,

‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, 

“All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
    and him only shall you serve.’”

Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

So again, why is it important to study the Word of God?  So, we are prepared for what Satan and this world throws at us.  So, we can stand firm in faith.  So, that we do not wander.  So, that we know who God is.  Reading His words helps us to know who God and Jesus are.  It will help us grow stronger in our relationship with Him.  Know God’s word, the Bible, and you will know Him.  The better you know Him the better your relationship with Him will be…