Deuteronomy 5:1
This verse is at the beginning of the chapter in which Moses reminds the Israelites of the commandments God gave them at Mount Horeb. These commandments, which we usually refer to as the 10 Commandments, were an integral part of the covenant the people made with God. These were His conditions set on that covenant. In the covenant the people were required to follow God and honour the commandments.
So what did the commandments say?
We are to have only God as our god. We are not to worship anything else, whether it be a false god, made up by human imagination, or an object. We are to put God first.
As an extension of that we are not to worship any carved gods. God reminds us that He will punish to the third or fourth generation those who hate Him. God also reminds us that He is faithful to those who love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.
God also does not want us to use His name as a curse or to use His name irreverently. We are to treat God with the respect and honour due Almighty God.
We are to remember to set aside time to focus on God. That is spoken of here as the Sabbath, but these days, with so many people required to work on Sunday, it is difficult to get that one day off to focus on God. So we need to ensure we give time away from our busy lives to spend with God. If Jesus required quiet time with God then we need more time.
Remember, not to get highly stressed about this. God understands what is going on in your life. He knows, however, that we all need to spend time with Him to give us the strength and faith to live our busy lives. I find it hard spending that time with God and frequently am critical of myself for my lack of time. Recently, God has been showing me the many ways I can snatch moments to be with Him. This ranges from a fairly open ended conversation with Him that goes on all the time, to time spent just sitting with Him. The important thing is to not get caught up in legalism as the Jewish people of Jesus’ time had done. God did not intend these commandments to be a burden too heavy to carry. He gave us these commandments to show us how to follow Him.
Another aspect of the sabbath is to remember all God has done for us and to express our gratitude for that.
The commandments that follow tell us to respect our parents. This does not mean we should not hold our parents to task for abuse. Sadly, there will always be parents that have to be walked away from. I guess they come under the heading of those who hate God. But for the rest of us, we must respect our parents.
We are not to murder, or commit adultery, act dishonestly or steal, lie or in any way defame our neighbour or covet the things our neighbour possesses. And we are not to covet the wife of our neighbour either.
God instructed the Israelites to be careful to do what God commanded. In other words they were to be diligent in following the commandments and were to think carefully before acting. God instructed them not to go to the right or left, but to follow Him. They were to stay on that narrow path, walking straight along it. The benefit of this? To have a good, long life in the land He was giving them. When we seek to follow God, no matter what difficulties we face in life, it is always easier to cope with them when God is our team leader.