“And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people.”
-Leviticus 26:12
We’re getting near the end of this book where we see all of these laws and statutes and commands that God gives his people, but don’t miss the point of them. God is giving all these laws, commands, statutes, rules, offerings, sacrifices, so that it would be possible for God in his holiness to walk among his people as their God. All these laws, rules, commandments, statutes make it possible for this people to be God’s people. To know him. and enjoy his presence with them. We want to experience life in him, and the same, exact thing is true in every one of our lives.
In Christ, we experience joyful communion with God and have been freed to obey Him.
Leviticus 26:12 Reminds Us that God Wants to Be With Us
We have laws, commands, rules and God’s word to follow, to obey, but it’s not just for the sake of obedience. It’s not do these things just because. It’s do these things so that you might experience life with God. So that God might walk among you. Hear that phrase in Leviticus 26:12 and I think, “Yes! That’s what I want! God, walk among my life. Walk among my family. Walk among the church that I’m a part of. Oh, God! Please, be a part of every facet of my life. Lead every facet of my life, with your presence, Lord. Envelop my life with your presence.”
Leviticus 26:12 Should Reflect How We Live
I pray that in my own life … I encourage you to pray that in your life. Let’s pray, Oh, God! We want you to walk among us. We want the fullness of your presence in every one of our lives. God, I want the fullness of your presence in my life, and my family, and the church that I’m a part of and everything I do. God, I pray for that for everybody that’s listening to this right now, God, that they would experience the joy of communion with you, of walking with you.
Experiencing Life With God
God, that’s what we want. This is life. Life is found in you. We want to experience life in you, so help us, we pray, to obey your commands today. Help us to walk in your statutes and, in the process, walk with you. God, help us to memorize your word and meditate on it, and obey it in our lives, and in the process, experience true life. Life abundant, life to the full, life forever, eternal life in you. Oh, God, thank you for giving us this privilege, this opportunity. I think about the end of Deuteronomy. Choose life, God.
We want to choose life today, and we know that’s found in walking in obedience to your commands. That in the process of doing that we will experience life in you as your people. Oh, God, we praise you for the privilege today of being your people. Help us to walk with you. Help us to obey you as you walk with us. Among us. As our God. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
