And now Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God and to walk in all His ways, and to love Him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. Deuteronomy 10:12 KJV

Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” Deuteronomy 10:12 NASB

The admonition of this passage is similar to the better-known verse in Micah 6:8, where the requirement is to “do justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” Here we are told that the Lord’s requirement for His people is to fear or desire to please Him and to have life controlled or molded by that desire; and, to have love be the motivating factor for all our service.

Even the most spiritual amongst us would hasten to own that we fall far short of the standard. When we factor in the thrice-repeated “all,” that describes the extent of our obedience and devotion, we recognize freely our inability to give God what He requires and take great solace that this was directed to Israel under the Law.

But there was Man here Who did return to God all He required of the nation. The Lord Jesus was marked by a single-hearted desire to bring pleasure to His Father God. “I delight to do Thy will O My God” was the expression of His heart. That godly fear or desire to please Him only controlled every aspect of His life. His thoughts, priorities, and manner of life were molded by this single criterion: will it please God.

When heaven was opened to the scene by the Jordan at the baptism of the Lord Jesus, the voice declared that God found all His pleasure, all He ever desired to find in a man or in the nation of Israel, in this Man. “Thou art My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). This declaration was made before the Lord had entered His public service. It related to all that He is rather than what He did. All those “silent” years in Nazareth were governed by the thought of bringing pleasure to God – whether as a child in the home, a young man in the community, or a carpenter at His work.

His service, in turn, was motivated by His love for His Father. Here was no mere duty rendered out of either a sense of obligation or dread. Here was loving, heart-felt service which He accomplished out of love alone. As we trace His steps, we see compassion for the needs of men; that was true and part of what marked Him in His service. But beyond what is visible to the eye was a heart that was totally absorbed with love for His Father.

Later, it would be said that the nation was characterized as serving God with their lips while, at the same time, their hearts were far from God. Here, however, was a heart that never wavered in its affection and devotion.

Think of a life during which every moment was consecrated to the pleasure of God; a life when every action was motivated by love for God. Our stuttering attempts at pleasing God with all our hearts and loving Him with all our hearts only highlights the beauty of that life.

The poet George Herbert wrote, while considering the Lord Jesus on the cross: “Thou art my loveliness, my life, my light, beauty alone to me.”

Consider

“I do always those things that please Him” was no empty boast on the part of the Lord Jesus. Can you find other places where the word “always” is used in regard to His relationship with the Father?