2 Tim 2:15 "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
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A CIRCUMCISED HEART (II)
TUESDAY, APRIL 20
Deuteronomy 10:12-16
Genesis 17:1-14
“Circumcise therefore…
your heart…”
A CIRCUMCISED HEART (II)
In the second place, God’s requirements for His people are founded on His gracious choice of them. Moses reminds the Israelites that to God belongs all that is in heaven and earth ‒ “the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD’s thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is” (v 14). What then motivated the God who owns everything, to choose Israel?
It was not any merit in themselves. In an earlier verse, Moses said, “The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people” (Deut 7:7). Instead, it was the covenant love of God, expressed in His gracious choice of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The reason for Israel’s elevation above all other peoples lies “only” in God: “only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people” (v 15).
Against this backdrop of a loving, covenant-keeping God, with His good commandments and gracious choice, comes the injunction for God’s people to “circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart” (v 16). Now circumcision was instituted by God as a visible sign of His covenant grace: it was first given to Abraham in this context, and God even marked His choice of Abraham by changing his name on that occasion to reflect the promise of the covenant (Gen 17:5). But this outward sign was not an end in itself! Thus Moses reminds the people that it is their hearts that must be circumcised, and not only their flesh. They must be yielded wholeheartedly to their covenant relationship with God.
Do you realise, Christian reader, that God’s choice of us is no less gracious than His choice of Israel; and that His covenant relationship with us likewise marks our obligation to a consecration not merely outward and ritual, but genuine and heart-felt? It is true that circumcision as a sacrament is no more in this New Testament era ‒ yet surely the need for a “circumcised heart” remains!
THOUGHT: Is my heart “circumcised”? Am I yielded fully to God?
PRAYER: “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.”