“. . . and He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.”
The commandments of God were given to the people of God so they had a standard by which to govern themselves. These laws were given the highest place of honor in the nation. They were placed within the Ark of the Covenant, in the Holiest place within the Tabernacle. Years later, when the Tabernacle was replaced with Solomon’s Temple, the only articles remaining in the Ark were the two stone tablets containing the commands of God. We need to understand, God’s design for His people was that He be at the center of their personal, and their national lives. The center of the nation was the Temple, the center of the Temple was the Ark, and the center of the Ark was the Word. The people of God must always be governed by the Word of God.
As the years passed, and the decades became centuries, the people of God lost sight of the Word of God. Religious activities continued to be practiced in the nation, but without an understanding of the basic principles of who God was, and what relationship with Him was like. During the reign of King Josiah, while doing some renovations on the Temple, they stumbled across the Word of God. When it was read to the King, he realized the real problem with the nation was a failure to observe the Word of God. Josiah elevated the Word to its rightful place, and saw a movement of the people back to the ways of God. It was actions like his that preserved the nation for another century (2 Kings 22:8-20).
It is high time we give the Word of God it’s rightful place. Certainly, we should pray to see the commands of God hanging in courtrooms and classrooms across our nation. However, the chief place we need to see the Word elevated, is in our own lives. Are we willing to become a people governed by the Word of God? That, my friends, is what will transform our nation to the utmost.
“Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them.”