The Lord, in the Text we’re using today, is very specific about something He wants done!
He not only wants us “talking” about His Word, and “teaching” it to everyone under our sphere of influence … He also wants us to prominently display its Instructions!
“And thou shalt bind them (His Words) for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.” Yes, pretty much “to-the-point,” Deuteronomy 6:8-9.
The verb “bind” can mean “to tie.” As if God would have us “wear” the Scriptures! Some strict Jews literally adore themselves with little boxes on their hands, forearms, with Scripture Verses written on paper and enshrined in those little containers.
The noun “frontlets” also means something that “goes around” some object, here likely one’s head. “Tie” some of the Word on your forehead, “between thine eyes,” it seems.
Then the third admonition is less physical (personally) but still quite obvious. “Write” the Truths of the Bible on one’s house, its posts and gates! The verb does mean “to record” them, visibly.
Wow!
Now of course … these “laws” were directed specifically to the Israelites. And we who are “in Christ” are not mandated to live under the Mosaic legislation.
So I’m not going to belabor the details of the foregoing commands.
BUT I DO BELIEVE THERE IS A PRINCIPLE UNDERLYING GOD’S DIRECTIONS IN TODAY’S TEXT.
God’s Word, the New Testament included, should be a major part of our lives!
I might not today wear it on the outside … but surely I am to carry it with me everywhere I go … on the inside. In my heart, my mind!
In Psalm 10:4 Scripture rebukes the “wicked” man, because “God is not in all his thoughts.”
Wow!
I’m thinking that if God is in ALL MY THOUGHTS … I am already wearing His Word internally!
Proverbs 23:17 adds to our discussion. “Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.” All the day long?
Then God’s Word must be with me, “hidden” in my heart, though not necessarily written on my front porch!
It’s called being Bible-centered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!
Joshua 1:8 encapsulates the whole idea: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein.”
Amen!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
However, although I am grown and older now, I still remember a Scripture plaque Mom had placed in my little bedroom, on the wall at the foot of the bed! I can tell you its color, some details of its frame, and certainly the Words it conveyed! “Thou (Lord) wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” Isaiah 26:3, still an overwhelming promise to my heart!
I grew up with that verse virtually “on my doorpost!”
If this gives any of you an idea, do it!