Deu 4:6-8 | KingComments | STEP | True wisdom and understanding are found in a life lived according to God’s order. God has revealed it in His Word. He has given that Word to His people. The possession of that Word makes the big difference to the world around God's people. Not their prosperity or military power, but a life according to the statutes and judgments of God’s Word distinguishes God’s people from the world. If they are obedient, they will arouse the jealousy of all peoples. The letter to the Colossians begins with a prayer for wisdom and spiritual insight necessary to enjoy the blessings of the land: “For this reason also, since the day we heard [of it], we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” ( ). The true life is “hidden with Christ in God” ( ). Stretching out for it, being busy with it ( ) is true wisdom and understanding, for in Him are “hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” ( ). If we read God’s Word in this way and discover more and more of Christ, in whom our blessings are already contained, we will walk “with wisdom toward outsiders” ( ). So says Moses too, to the people. Their listening to the commandments of God will be a testimony to the nations around them (cf. ). The true right is rooted in God. If His people maintain this, He will become visible through it. He is honored. This honor also comes upon the people. Those who make the Word of God great in their lives will be made great by it themselves. Moses tells the people how near the LORD is to them. He is so near that He hears them when they call. There is a real relationship. Do the people realize it? Are we aware of it? And God answers. In His Word we have His answer to any question. Moses then points to this. He speaks with full conviction of the unparalleled righteousness of God’s laws ( ). Are we, am I, fully and deeply convinced of that? If there is no conviction of the truth of God’s Word, we do not read it. If we do read it without that conviction: we do so without the awareness that the living and loving God speaks to us. “His commandments are not burdensome” ( ), that is, for the new life. They are the best and most righteous commandments. The foundation is love. He is so near to His people, and we are so near to Him. We must learn to walk “not as unwise men but as wise” ( ). We learn this by, among other things, dealing with the letter to the Ephesians. As a result, we receive wisdom and understanding. Wisdom is not to be found in learning and science, in education or in the world, but in the school of God. True wisdom cannot be learned from a booklet, but we learn it in God’s school of practice.

‏ Deuteronomy 4:6-8

God’s People and the Other Peoples

True wisdom and understanding are found in a life lived according to God’s order. God has revealed it in His Word. He has given that Word to His people. The possession of that Word makes the big difference to the world around God's people. Not their prosperity or military power, but a life according to the statutes and judgments of God’s Word distinguishes God’s people from the world. If they are obedient, they will arouse the jealousy of all peoples.

The letter to the Colossians begins with a prayer for wisdom and spiritual insight necessary to enjoy the blessings of the land: “For this reason also, since the day we heard [of it], we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Col 1:9). The true life is “hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3). Stretching out for it, being busy with it (Col 3:1) is true wisdom and understanding, for in Him are “hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3).

If we read God’s Word in this way and discover more and more of Christ, in whom our blessings are already contained, we will walk “with wisdom toward outsiders” (Col 4:5). So says Moses too, to the people. Their listening to the commandments of God will be a testimony to the nations around them (cf. 1Kgs 10:4-5). The true right is rooted in God. If His people maintain this, He will become visible through it. He is honored. This honor also comes upon the people. Those who make the Word of God great in their lives will be made great by it themselves.

Moses tells the people how near the LORD is to them. He is so near that He hears them when they call. There is a real relationship. Do the people realize it? Are we aware of it? And God answers. In His Word we have His answer to any question. Moses then points to this. He speaks with full conviction of the unparalleled righteousness of God’s laws (Psa 147:19-20).

Are we, am I, fully and deeply convinced of that? If there is no conviction of the truth of God’s Word, we do not read it. If we do read it without that conviction: we do so without the awareness that the living and loving God speaks to us. “His commandments are not burdensome” (1Jn 5:3), that is, for the new life. They are the best and most righteous commandments. The foundation is love. He is so near to His people, and we are so near to Him.

We must learn to walk “not as unwise men but as wise” (Eph 5:15). We learn this by, among other things, dealing with the letter to the Ephesians. As a result, we receive wisdom and understanding. Wisdom is not to be found in learning and science, in education or in the world, but in the school of God. True wisdom cannot be learned from a booklet, but we learn it in God’s school of practice.