“God says you shall not do, according to all that we are doing here today everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes.”
– Deuteronomy 12:8
Deuteronomy 12:8 is such a dangerous phrase and such a word of caution. And we see it at strategic points throughout the history of God’s people. It summarizes what we see in the book of Judges, everyone doing what was right in their own eyes, and Judges is a horrifying book in that sense as it depicts people doing what is right in their own eyes. And in this way, Deuteronomy 12:8 is a reminder to us today, to every one of us not to live according to what is right in our own eyes.
Lord, help us not to live according to what is right in our eyes, but to what is right in your Word.
It is never good. This goes all the way back to Genesis chapter three, the entrance of sin in the world. It is never good. It is deadly when men and women decide they know better than God, what is right and good. And I could immediately, right now, list so many examples of the way this is playing out in culture around me, all kinds of redefinition of right and good according to what we think is right, what seems right to us that goes directly against the word of God.
We Should Think And Act According To God’s Word
But the reality is, in Deuteronomy chapter 12 and all throughout God’s word, God is speaking, not just to the culture around us, he’s speaking to us. He’s calling us to conform our lives to what is right according to His word. And so today in a fresh way, I want to encourage you to lay aside your ideas of what is right and good. Instead to conform your life, my life every single day. This is why we need God’s word, we need to abide in God’s word because we need to live according to his definition of right and his definition of good to transform our minds around what His word says about righteousness, and goodness, and not to get caught up in a world that redefines right and good according to our own eyes, our own desires, our own perspectives.
Lord help us today, not to live according to what is right in our eyes, help us to live according to what is right in your word. So God please, please help us to think rightly according to your word, not according to our own ideas, not according to our own preferences, not according to our own desires. Please help us to live according to your righteousness, and your justice, and your truth. According to your commands. Even as we read at the end of this chapter, help us to be faithful, to do all that you command us to do, Deuteronomy 12:32, “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do.” God, please help us today to be careful to do everything you command us to do in your word.
Deuteronomy 12:8 Prays That God Guards Us Against Adversary
So God, we pray for that today. We pray for this reality in all of our lives. God, we pray that you would keep us guard us, protect us from all the adversary’s attempts just like we see from the beginning of sin in the world in Genesis chapter three, that he’s doing today, tempting us to redefine right according to our ideas, our thoughts, what we think is best. God, we pray for humility. We pray that you would help us to realize you alone are righteous, you alone are just and good, you alone know that which is right. We trust in you so we pray that you would conform our lives, our desires, our thoughts, our words, our everything today to your word, to your righteousness, to your justice, to your goodness as you have defined it.
So God we pray that you would help us not, never to live according to what is right in our own eyes. Oh God, save us we pray, from living according to what is right in our own eyes. We pray this in Jesus’ name, in the name of our savior who alone is right and good and who has made a way for us to live in righteousness and goodness by the power of his spirit in us, by his forgiveness of us, and his filling with his spirit, we pray that you would help us to live today according to what is right in your eyes. In Jesus’ name, we pray, 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.
