“And you shall observe all my statutes, and all my rules, and do them. I am the Lord.”
– Leviticus 19:37
This is a somewhat common verse in Leviticus, meaning it’s repeated at different points, but it is such a good summary of this book. “Leviticus” means “the law,” and God is giving his law to his people. This is how they are to live, and he says you shall observe not some of these statutes and some of these rules, like pick and choose which ones you like, and do what feels right to you based on how your culture is perceiving them at the time. No. Observe all my statutes and all my rules. All of them.
Leviticus 19:37 Reminds Us God’s Word Is a Commandment
We go to God’s Word, not looking for suggestions to consider, but for commands to obey.
Do them. Don’t even just observe them, see that they’re there. Live by them, by all of them. Let your life revolve around all of them, and then he closes and says, “I am the Lord.” We see this over and over again throughout this passage in particular in Leviticus 19. “I am the Lord.” “I am the Lord.” “I am the Lord.” Indeed, God is the Lord. That’s why we observe and obey his law. Because he is the Lord.
Leviticus 19:37 Reminds Us God Is Lord
We are not the Lord. You’re not the Lord, I’m not the Lord. God is the Lord. That’s why we go to his word and we say, “God, what are you calling us to do? How are you calling us to live?” Now we know … We don’t have time to dive into this in depth right now, but that these laws in the Old Testament are not binding upon believers in the New Testament, in the new covenant, unless they’re repeated in the new covenant. Unless we see laws and statutes and rules commanded in the New Testament, reinforced in the New Testament.
So the takeaway here in Leviticus 19:37 is not that we have to do every single thing that’s written here when it comes to the civic code, or ceremonial code, and that sort of thing, but the big picture is the same. God is the Lord. We go to his word not looking for suggestions to consider. We go to his word looking for commands to obey
This Verse Leads Us to Ask God For Help Obeying Him
And so we pray, God, help us to observe all your statutes and all your rules in your word. Help us to observe them and do them. You are our Lord. God, we yield to you. We humble ourselves before you. Your ways are better than our ways. We want to follow your word, not our ways.
So keep us, we pray. Just look around at not just the culture around us, but the church and the culture around me right now. And there is so much temptation just to disregard your laws, your rules, your word in light of what seems right to us, in light of what we perceive to be antiquated or outdated. No, oh God, help us. Help us to see your words, to observe your statutes, your rules as good, as righteous, and to do them because you are the Lord. We are not the Lord.
This Verse Leads Us to Pray For The Nashi People
So, God, help us to observe and obey your word, and then, oh God, I’m just compelled to pray. We pray for the Nashi people in China today. They don’t even have all your words. Like many people groups in the world, they don’t have a full bible. They have portions here and there. God, we pray that the Nashi people would get the bible. God, please bless those who are working to translate the scripture into the Nashi language. Please raise up more and more people to translate scripture into languages where your word is not yet made known. They can’t observe your statutes and rules and do them if they don’t have your word.
Please, oh God, use our lives, our resources to get your word to them. God, we pray for bibleless people groups today, like the Nashi in China. God, please help us to change that. Please help us to give toward that. Please use our prayers as part of your means for accomplishing that purpose among them. God, we pray for them to hear, and have your laws. They might do them and experience a life under your lordship, and all the more with the gift we have in your word before us. Help us to observe all that you have said, and obey all that you have said, for you are the Lord.
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.
