Timothy R. Butler is Editor-in-Chief of Open for Business. He also serves as a pastor at Little Hills Church and FaithTree Christian Fellowship.
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When God's holiness draws near, our first instinct is often to back away—to put some distance between ourselves and the One whose law shows us how unholy we are. That's exactly what Israel does in Exodus 20 after hearing the Ten Commandments: they tremble at the mountain and tell Moses, “You speak to us… but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”
We lose focus on what God has done for us and then aren’t able to do what He really wants us to do.
When pain makes even sitting in a chair impossible, someone else’s ordinary comfort can suddenly look like the one thing that would make life right. In Exodus 20:17, God forbids coveting anything that belongs to our neighbor—but how do we distinguish a healthy desire for change from a heart dissatisfied with what God has given?
We lose focus on what God has done for us and then aren’t able to do what He really wants us to do.
Most of us will never commit perjury in a courtroom, but false witness comes much closer to home: taking credit that belongs to someone else, withholding truth when it could help, or passing along a claim we have not checked. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” asks whether our everyday words can be trusted—and whether they reflect the Lord we confess.
As we continue to explore Psalm 8, David finds himself in wonder over the glory of God being given to human beings.
We've all known that strange, off feeling when something of ours is stolen. That instinctive certainty it is wrong is precisely where Exodus 20:15 begins—”You shall not steal”—yet the command reaches the many ways we take from God without ever feeling the sting ourselves.
As we continue to explore Psalm 8, David reminds us that we are never too insignificant for God to stop and show care for us.
It is easy to read “You shall not commit adultery” and decide that command belongs to someone else. But in Matthew 5, Jesus carries it beyond the outward act into the hidden life of our looks, desires, and thoughts—so where does that leave any of us, and why does God care so deeply about our purity?
Psalm 8 takes us to a King who’s kingdom was inaugurated long before the United States ever existed and whose power is greater than all the nations of the world.
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