Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the
faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and
keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays to their face
those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates
him. He will repay him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to do the
commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.
Deuteronomy 7:9-11
This is another
place where God is described, and described in ways that need to be noticed and
embraced.
The first quality
listed is that He is a faithful God. Whenever He makes a promise, He keeps it.
Here, His keeping covenant and His love is highlighted. This is something for
us to cling to. And that's because this is one key place where Satan loves to attack.
'God won't come through for you! It looks like you're going to have to deal
with this on your own.' NO! He is the faithful God.
But then, note that
this commitment is conditional. He is faithful 'with those who love him and
keep his commandments'. Since ours is covenant relationship, there are
obligations on our side to keep, commands to obey. God will love us, but that
is supposing that we loving Him. And if you think about it, this is one place
where repentance and faith are so important.
The next quality is
something that many church folk these days will be uncomfortable with. Our God
'repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying[!] them'. This is just
another way of talking about how 'He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished'.
Note that our God is not 'slack' in dispensing this punishment. He does not
delay.
All of this sets up
the last line which actually is the main point here.
You shall therefore[!] be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.
Moses spoke these
words to the people of God in the desert as they prepared to enter the Promised
Land. They were a serious warning to them. We, the people of God in our own
desert, also need to hear these words as a serious warning to us as we also
prepare to enter the Promised Land.