Excellent! I have been far too long in getting back to this post, but that is in part because I liked your answers well enough to leave them alone. Kudos to Brianna, the main thing I was looking for in both passages was God’s command for us to rejoice.
I like the Deuteronomy passage because it shows God’s heart so clearly—God chose Abraham and made a promise to him. He brought Israel out of Egypt, plundering as they went, and added as spectacular military victory at the Red Sea just for good measure. He provided food and water, clothing that did not wear out, and despite their disobedience led them into “a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper.” (Deut. 8:6-9) Best of all, He gave them Himself. He promised to be their God and watch over them forever. All he asked in return was that Israel recognize His goodness and thank Him for it. His command was to rejoice. This is grace. It is the gospel of the Old Testament, if you will, for God has never chosen his children for their righteousness (Deut. 9:6), but merely asks that they receive His free gifts and rejoice in them. This is also the good, gospel news of general revelation. It is God’s nature behave this way toward us, even through the delights of His creation.
The greatest commandment has always been to love the Lord with all your heart. The Brain pointed out something else: the second greatest commandment is also present here. Perhaps he looked up Deuteronomy 14 and read the next verse? “And you shall not neglect the Levite who is within your towns,” or perhaps the next several chapters, which instuct Israel to provide for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, and institute the Sabbatical year, when debts were cancelled and slaves set free.
Remember when the apostles Peter and John were preaching, and a beggar asked them for money? Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” And immediately, God healed the man’s legs, and he leapt up, and
went with them into the temple, walking, leaping, and praising God.
In a way, that’s what we can all do for each other: I was depressed, and lonely, and inclined to complain. I was frustrated at my lack of growth and tired of trying. You were all right to see that the “emotion” I referenced was more accurately an attitude that reflected my disposition toward God. Ya’ll said, “advice on coping we do not have. Techniques for how to make yourself a better person we do not know. But what we have, we give to you. God is good. Believe it. Thank Him for it. Acknowledge that you are not worthy of it. Eat before Him and rejoice!”
