The Law: God of Might, God of Love
Read Deuteronomy 10:12-22
Contemplation of the love of God gets under the skin, strips of any delusion of merit, humbles, and creates love in the other where there was none before. That is the love of the Mighty God we have encountered in the gift of Jesus Christ. It is the love described in this passage.
There are only three occasions in the Bible in which God is said to be something, and only one of those is repeated twice: “God is love.” This passage says that, too, in nine verses (14-22). In the remaining two verses of our text, we are told the one thing we are called to do in the Christian life—love God. Now someone might argue that the text tells us to do four other things. But I would argue that these are only two different expressions of love. This is an example of the Hebrew poetic device called chiasm. That is, the passage is structured like an “x.” There are two statements resting on the top two prongs of the x which are mirrored by the bottom two. And all four of them point to the message at the center. Therefore, to fear the Lord is the same thing as observing his commands. And to walk in his ways is the same thing as serving him. And all four statements point to their source, from which each one flows—the love of God. Therefore, this passage calls us to love God in response to the mighty love he has displayed for us in Jesus Christ.
God reminds the Israelites that they were chosen in love to be the recipients of his grace. Their response must be tenderness and appreciation. The same is true for those of us who have received God's salvation.
Electing Love
God had already reminded the Israelites that he had chosen them out of love in 7:7 and 7:8. But notice how in both of these texts he juxtaposes his power alongside his love. Why do you suppose that is? Because only an infinitely mighty God would have power enough to love a people like us. The Bible explains, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,” a Son whose mission it was to “seek and to save that which was lost,” a mission that he declared on the cross to be “finished." Therefore, “we love because he first loved us.” That is mighty love! Notice that it is in the context of describing God’s mercy that he is described as the “mighty” God, the same word used in Isaiah 9:6.
God’s might is not so much in the fact that he is beholden to no one as much as it is in the fact that as mighty as he is, he stoops to the cause of the poor and disenfranchised.
Defending Love
While God is lofty and exalted above all creation and all spiritual powers, his attention is not given to those who suppose themselves to be powerful. He cannot be bought by the wealthy or intimidated by the powerful. His bias is toward the weakest. God delights in saving the disenfranchised and helpless of this world. Just think about how many testimonies you have heard by people who were converted during some weakening crisis—illness, imprisonment, bankruptcy, divorce—some incident that stripped them of any illusion (or, more accurately, delusion) that they were self-sufficient.
But we must not miss God's compassion for the literally poor, or fatherless, or widowed. God especially cares for these—the greatest rate of conversion is among these. Notice that the proof of God’s might is not so much in the fact that he is beholden to no one as much as it is in the fact that as mighty as he is, he stoops to the cause of the poor and disenfranchised. This is the greatness that we gazed upon in Psalm 113 and the greatness we celebrate especially at Christmas. This is the greatness we have beheld in Jesus Christ (Lk. 1:46-55).