Deuteronomy 4:32-40 – Hallelujah, what a God!

In a capsule, Deuteronomy 4:32-40 tells us that Yahweh, the only true God, had chosen Israel as His people. It was He who had delivered them with His miraculous power. He did it not because of any merit of their own but purely because He loved them. The challenge was for them to reciprocate by loving Him in return. This would ensure that they would have a long, satisfying, and meaningful life in the promised land.

Here in these verses Moses was seen prodding the people of Israel to ponder all that God had done for them. He told them to consider all that God had granted them and their fathers to experience and to appreciate what a great God He truly had been to them. He insisted that from the mighty works He had done for them, they surely would realize that theirs was the mighty God. They would know that He had no equal. Since the dawn of creation, there never has been and will never have another quite like Him who could do such mighty feats.    

In three rhetorical questions Moses reminded them it was this God who spoke to them and delivered them from Egypt with His mighty and outstretched hand. No other nation had the privilege like them to hear the voice of God as He spoke from the midst of fire and yet survived. There also had not been another nation that He had granted to experience His mighty works. He literally took them to be His chosen people by delivering them from their trials, performing great signs and wonders, and sustaining them through wars and terrors since rescuing them from Egypt.   

What was God’s purpose? Verse 35 said that He wanted them  “to know that the Lord, He is God; there is no other besides Him.” They could stand at the foot of Mount Sinai and hear His voice and experience the awesome sight, was all because of His love for their fathers. So He chose to deliver them to make them His own unique people. What they were granted was an act of God’s grace and not because of any merit of their own. All that the Israelites had experienced was for them to “know…and take it to heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.”

In verse 40, Moses then pressed in the application. God granted them the privilege to know Him through all the slew of amazing experiences so that they would obey all that they had been instructed. They were expected to obey and live-out God’s instructions in the promised land. Like them, we too have been delivered by God. He set us free from our bondage to sin by Christ's awesome works at Calvary. We are called out of the world into His kingdom to be His own people. He has granted us to know Him, enable us to hear His voice, and experience His guidance. We will do well by being obedient to His Word and enjoy a meaningful and fulfilling life with Him. Heed His call!