What He Requires

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 55, What He Requires.

Deuteronomy 10:12. Listen closely to this verse: "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul?"

Notice the first phrase: "and now." This is not the opening of Moses' speech. It's the conclusion of a long retelling — he has just reminded Israel of everything God has already done: the rescue from Egypt, the crossing of the sea, the provision in the wilderness, the forgiveness after the golden calf. Only after recounting all of that history does Moses ask: and now, what does God require?

This matters enormously. The obedience that follows is not a condition for God's love — it is a response to it. God loved first. He rescued first. He forgave first. The question "what does He require of me" only makes sense after recognizing everything He has already done for me.

And what does He require? Four things. Let's look at each one carefully.

First: to fear the LORD. This is not cowardly dread, not the kind of terror that makes you run. It is reverence — seriously recognizing who God is, His greatness, and answering that greatness without trivializing it. It is living like someone who knows exactly whose presence they stand in.

Second: to walk in all his ways. Notice the word "all." Not a few hand-picked ways, the comfortable ones, the ones that fit your personality. All of them. Because selective obedience — cherry-picking what we'll obey and what we'll ignore — is still, underneath, disobedience wearing the costume of faith.

Third: to love him. That word again, the one that shows up so often in Deuteronomy. God doesn't want mere rule-keeping; He wants the heart. You can obey out of fear, out of habit, out of obligation — but God asks for love. And love changes everything, because it turns duty into desire.

Fourth: to serve the LORD with all your heart and all your soul. The service God asks for is not forced labor, the way a slave carries out a task without caring about the outcome. It is inward surrender. He does not want your hands without your heart right there with them.

And look how these four verbs weave together: fear, walk, love, serve. They are not four separate tasks on a spiritual to-do list. They are one life, lived inside and out, with no contradiction between what you feel and what you do.

So today, I want to invite you to do something simple but concrete. Read these four verbs out loud: fear, walk, love, serve. And choose one of them — just one — to live out in a specific way before noon. Maybe it's pausing to revere God before a big decision. Maybe it's obeying in an area you've been avoiding. Maybe it's a concrete gesture of love toward Him. Maybe it's serving someone wholeheartedly, without complaint.

Choose one. And live it today.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.