"You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him."  Deuteronomy 13:4 (NASB)

This is just like the Word of God, isn't it?  One verse is so packed that we can keep chewing on it.  We've looked at "cling" and "listen," and this week, we will look at another thought-provoking verb:  follow.

We haven't yet discussed the context of this verse.  It's from the book of Deuteronomy, in a time when the people of Israel were receiving a host of instructions from Moses as to how to conduct themselves when they entered the Promised Land.  They would be surrounded by nations who didn't know God, and as His chosen people, He wanted to protect them.  He also wanted them to be a light in darkness, to demonstrate what it looked like to know, trust, and obey the true and living God.

Numerous times in this book and others, God commands them to follow Him fully.  This particular passage in chapter thirteen warns against idolatry.  It says that if a prophet or a dreamer of dreams tells them to go after other gods and serve them, they were not to listen, even if the prophet or dreamer gives a sign or a wonder which comes true (Deut. 13:1-3).  They'd already been told not to go after other gods, and sign or no sign, they needed to follow what they knew was true.

There is always something or someone to follow, isn't there?  We have as many gods today as they had then, maybe more.  There are the gods of money, fame, power, and greed.  There are the gods that tell us, "It's all about you," so that we'll make choices solely for our own benefit, often to the detriment of others, including spouses and children.  There are the gods that elevate intellect above all else.  If you pursue and attain the best education, they say, you've achieved the highest goal.  There are the gods of identity—race and gender among the most powerful—that want to be the sum total of our being, wanting to take that which God has made and cause us to worship and serve it rather than the Creator.

And of course, there is the god of this world, who's behind them all, and he's not choosy.  Any path that's not of God will do.  He works to keep us following after emptiness, so that we ourselves become empty.

But when we follow God, we understand that all we do is for Him.  If, in following God, He leads us to fame, wealth, power, or intellectual heights, we understand it's not about us.  He has established the platform for his glory.  When we follow God, we understand that we've become new creatures, His creatures.  We don't live, move, and have our being in earthly identities; we live, move, and have our being in Him (Acts 17:28).  When we follow God, we will never be empty, we will never thirst, we will never hunger.  We will be richly filled with His Spirit.

Are you a follower?

The path starts with Jesus, for He said, "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).  He also gave this awesome assurance:  "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:27-28).

That's really all we are—sheep.  We are that unique creature that is easily led astray.  When God says to follow, it's for our protection.  He knows the emptiness that comes from following other gods, the promises they can't deliver, the band-aids that leave us hurting.

As believers, we are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14).  God wants us to be a peculiar people, to demonstrate to an unbelieving world what it looks like to know, trust, and obey the true and living God.  No matter what others around us may be following after, we ought to find ourselves lined up behind the Good Shepherd.  Following.

Lord, it may be painful but show me the gods in my life, the ones I've put before You.  And then, Lord, give me a heart of repentance and, in Your power, help me to overthrow them.  It is my desire to follow You and You alone, and I thank You for showing me the path to eternal life.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

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