Deuteronomy 4 … Consider Him So Near

Originally posted: 07/18/2019

The LORD God, He is exalted, high and lifted up, far beyond man; and yet He is So Near. Did you see Him today? It’s mystifying; the Creator of all the universe stoops to His creation, drawing close to open eyes and hearts to see and sense His Presence, that His children would call on Him So Near.

“For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord our God whenever we call on Him?” (4:7).

Consider Him So Near

• So Near as He reveals His works:
  • “Your eyes have seen what the Lord has done…” (4:3).
• So Near as He imparts His wisdom and understanding:
  • “See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my God commanded me, … ⁶ So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people,’” (4:5-6).
• So Near as He decrees His righteous statutes and judgments:
  • “Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?” (4:8).
• So Near as He encourages diligence:
  • “Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons,” (4:9).
• So Near as He brings His words to memory:
  • “Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children,’” (4:10).
• So Near as He establishes His covenant:
  • “So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone,” (4:13).
• So Near as He warns His children:
  • “And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven,” (4:19).
• So Near as He claims His people as His own:
  • “But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today,” (4:20).
• So Near as He expects faithfulness:
  • “So watch yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you. ²⁴ For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God,” (4:23-24).
• So Near as He discloses the future:
  • “The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord drives you. ²⁸ There you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. ²⁹ But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul,” (4:28-29).
• So Near as He promises compassion:
  • “When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. ³¹ For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them,” (4:30-31).
• So Near as He shows His supremacy:
  • “To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, He is God; there is no other besides Him,” (4:35).
• So Near as He expresses His love:
  • “Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them,” (4:37).
• So Near, whenever He is called upon:
  • “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord our God whenever we call on Him?” (4:7).

How do we respond to Him So Near?

The Lord will never force His Nearness upon anyone; but He has promised He will respond whenever we call. What great favor we have been granted to call on Him! And what great grace to know and live in the Presence of Him So Near!

• May we call on Him So Near daily; He is faithful and He has promised, when we call, He will answer.
  • “Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know,” (Jeremiah 33:3).

• Let us remember and thereby cherish His words. He will faithfully teach and train us as we meet Him So Near in the pages of His Holy Scripture.
  • All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; (2 Timothy 3:16).
    

• Let us carefully watch and guard ours lives, that we would live as His wise and faithful children who make the most of all our days to honor Him So Near.
  • Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil, (Ephesians 5:15-16).
    

• Let us live to bring Him glory, obeying His commandments and demonstrating we belong to Him So Near.
  • “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven,” (Matthew 5:16).

• Let us diligently teach our children and grandchildren, that they too would grow to know and love Him So Near.
  • “You shall teach them diligently to your sons 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 up,” (Deuteronomy 6:7).
    

Oh may we never take for granted the indescribable privilege we have been granted to know Him and experience His Presence. Let us be faithful to remember, to watch ourselves, and to give heed to His commands, that we may daily call upon Him in truth and intimately commune with Him So Near.

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth, (Psalm 145:18).

Let’s Grow Together!