Ben Fourie

The LORD your God is supreme over all gods and over all powers. He is great and mighty, and he is to be feared. He does not show partiality, and he does not accept bribes. Deuteronomy 10:17

Only one verse, but a verse packed with information about God. In this chapter in the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses was instructed by God to cut two new stone tablets and to take them up the mountain so that God could write the Ten Commandments on them again. Moses then went down the mountain and put the tablets in the box of the covenant that he had made. The Israelites went on their way to the Promised Land, but Moses stayed behind on the mountain until God gave him instructions to follow them and teach them about the laws and how it should be kept. The most important part of these teachings is to be found in verse 17. Let us look at it.

First of all, He is their God. He chose them to be the people of the covenant above all other nations. What a wonderful privilege. The same applies to you and me. We are privileged to be chosen by God to be members of his church on earth.

In the second place, He is the only real God and we are children of the only real God.

He is El Hagadol, the Supreme God.  In comparison with him, the idols of all other nations are worth nothing and, therefore, he has the power to take his people into the Promised Land and protect them against the hostile nations. That is also true for us. His supreme power is always there to protect us from anything that can harm us.

In another interpretation of the verse, we can say He is the mighty one who changes lives for the better as could be seen from all he did for them during The Exodus. This is always true for us as well.

Lastly, he is called the God who does not show partiality and who cannot be bribed by our petty promises and vows.

Prayer: Please make me more and more conscious of who you really are, Lord.  Amen