In the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments), the thoughts and desires of the human heart do not escape God’s attention. The first 9 commandments may seem to be focused on external acts, with no relation to internal thoughts, but that’s simply not true. God is always looking at the condition of the human heart. God was moving toward a more intimate and transforming relationship with His children at Sinai. In fact the first commandment that we should “have no other gods before” God (external) and the last commandment that we must not covet (internal) are very closely related.<\/p>\n
“Before Me” means, “over against me” or “in front of Me,” and God is talking about making and worshiping idols in our lives. All false gods stand in opposition to God Almighty, and the worship of them is irreconcilable and completely incompatible with the worship of the true God. We will see over and over again that whenever Israel left the worship of the Living God, she fell into confusion.<\/p>\n
You may be thinking, \u201cI\u2019m not guilty of idolatry.\u201d Really? Is there anything you fear more than God? Is there anything you love or serve more than God? How about anything you trust more than God? Is there anyone or anything in your life that takes precedence over God? To covet simply means to have a strong longing to have what another has, and God says it is sin. Coveting reduces people to things and makes material things into idols. It turns a relationship with wife and family, as well as with a neighbor, into commitments of convenience. Coveting attempts to make relationships secondary. When we covet, we displace God from the center of our life, replacing God with “me.” We are putting ourselves “in front of God,” and that’s idolatry. But the solution is simple. We must confess, repent, and put Jesus back on the throne as the rightful Lord, Ruler, and Master!<\/p>\n
“LORD, rule our lives this day we ask in Jesus’ name.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exodus 20 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0And God spake all these words, saying,\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.\u00a0\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt have no other gods before me.\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness\u00a0of any thing\u00a0<\/em>that\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>in heaven above, or that\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>in the earth beneath, or that\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>in the water under the earth:\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth\u00a0generation\u00a0<\/em>of them that hate me;\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt not take the name of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God in vain; for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0But the seventh day\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>the sabbath of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God:\u00a0in it\u00a0<\/em>thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>within thy gates:\u00a011<\/sup>For\u00a0in\u00a0<\/em>six days the\u00a0LORD\u00a0made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the\u00a0LORD\u00a0blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 12<\/sup> Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God giveth thee.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt not kill.\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt not commit adultery.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt not steal.\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour\u2019s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour\u2019s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>thy neighbour\u2019s. 18<\/sup>\u00a0And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>, they removed, and stood afar off.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>. 22<\/sup> And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. 24<\/sup>\u00a0An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.\u00a025<\/sup>\u00a0And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.\u00a0\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments), the thoughts and desires of the human heart do not escape God’s attention. The first 9 commandments may seem to be focused on external acts, with no relation to internal thoughts, but that’s simply not true. God is always looking at the condition of the human heart. God was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12539"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12539"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15867,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12539\/revisions\/15867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}