Deuteronomy 6:5–6: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.”

February 21st, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

The heart is considered to be the center, the core, of a human being. It is the heart that governs the will, the intellect, and the emotions. It is the seat of our choices, or volition. When we read these verses in Deuteronomy, the use of the word heart jumps out at us. God says His commands (His Law), “shall be in your heart.” It should not surprise us that here in the middle of Moses’ reading of the Law for the second time, God is pointing to relationship as the most important issue between Him and us. God has always desired a personal, intimate, heart-to-heart relationship with us.

In the New Testament, Jesus referred a lawyer to these verses when He was asked,  “which is the greatest commandment.” Jesus replied:

‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind’ . . . and the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ . . . on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 22:37–40).

Jesus distilled the entire Law to two commandments. The Rabbis’, on the other hand, said, “To keep so many laws is angel’s work,” meaning there were so many laws and interpretations of the laws that it was impossible to keep them. When a person tried to keep one of the laws perfectly, they would end up breaking another one. They had endless debates as to which law was the most important commandment. But Jesus didn’t hesitate or pause before He answered. It was simple to Him, and it should have been simple to them too. The bottom line is always the human heart: our will, our emotions, the place from which our choices come. Jesus was pointing to the motives behind the actions. Are believers obeying the word of the Law out of duty; or is the Law in their hearts, and their actions are following?

How do we get God’s word in our hearts? He places His commands into our hearts as a result of our surrendering to Him. What God most wants from us is our heart and love. We usually think that God demands many other things from us, like our time, money, or submission. But what God really desires is our hearts. When we do love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, and might then everything else falls into place.

“LORD, we give You our hearts, souls, and might today for Your service.”

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Deuteronomy 6 KJV

¹ Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:  ² That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. ³ Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. ⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: ⁵ And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. ⁶ And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: ⁷ And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  ⁸ And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. ⁹ And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. ¹⁰ And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, ¹¹And houses full of all good things , which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; ¹² Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.  ¹³ Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. ¹⁴ Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; ¹⁵ (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. ¹⁶ Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. ¹⁷ Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee. ¹⁸ And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, ¹⁹ To cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken. ²⁰ And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?  ²¹ Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: ²² And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes:  ²³ And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. ²⁴ And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. ²⁵ And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.