"I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD!"

Deuteronomy 5:1-7                        (ESV)
"1 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, "Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them.
2 The LORD our GOD made a covenant with us in Horeb.
3 Not with our fathers did the LORD make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today.
4 The LORD spoke with you face to face at the mountain, OUT OF THE MIDST OF THE FIRE,
5 while I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD. For you were afraid BECAUSE OF THE FIRE, and you did not go up into the mountain. HE said:
6 "'I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD", WHO brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
7 "YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME."



From time to time GOD ALMIGHTY will reveal HIMSELF to a human being, and when HE does it leaves an indelible impression that the person will forever remember.  To me, Moses is mainly remembered for leading the children of Israel out of Egypt and across the Red Sea.  But the thing that most glaringly sticks out in my mind is in Exodus 34:29-30 when Moses came down from Mount Sinai and his face was aglow from the Glory of GOD ALMIGHTY being present while delivering HIS WORD to him!  Surely the Israelites understood that Moses had been in the presence of Diety, for they were "afraid to come near him" (Exodus 34:30)!

In Deuteronomy 5 GOD tells the Israelites "I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD", WHO brought you out of Egypt!  "YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME."  You would think that GOD would NEVER have to impress upon them anything else again!  HE had brought them out of Egypt where they had been enslaved for 430 years!  Moses came down from Mount Sinai with his face literally glowing for days just from GOD's Glory, so much so that the Israelites were scared to come near him.  They had gotten themselves into slavery by depending on their own strength and wisdom, and surely they wouldn't forget that???  Surely???

But don't I do the same thing with my life?  Remembering where I have been delivered from is sometimes not the most comfortable thing to recall.  Not just the miraculous recovery from the brain hemorrhage in 2007, but the fast paced lifestyle I had become accustomed to, burning both ends of the candle at the same time!  Yes, sometimes I become so caught up in trying to get ahead, in being a successful businessman, that I tend to fall back into the same rut that I previously seemed to be stuck in.  When that happens I find myself reminiscing about my Rehab experience, or my brief time I can remember about July 09, 2007, or the almost two years GOD had me on the sidelines of life!  Remembering where I was delivered from helps me keep a proper perspective of who I am and WHO has brought me where I am!

"I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD" should always be on the forefront of my thought process. The Words JESUS prayed in John 17 should keep us confident that HE is always with us, but sometimes I have to be reminded that "I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD" is living in me!  JESUS paid an unbelievable price for my soul, and I don't need to let that be overshadowed.  The enemy would love to have me get so busy again to let HIS sacrifice on my behalf get minimized.  But GOD speaks in HIS STILL, SMALL voice to "BE STILL" and remember that "I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD"!!!