Not Unlimited

Deuteronomy 4:2 2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you.

One of the things I am learning from my new pastor at the church I attend is that things need to be simple for those who are just coming to check us out. Clear guidance. Easy to follow signage. Everything geared to make sure they can find their way, both their physical way and their spiritual way.

Airports have learned this lesson over the years. Big signs. Information booths and kiosks. A logical progression of steps. (Well, maybe not so logical, but….) They make it easy for those traveling in and out to find what they need. Or at least as easy as it can be for the most people.

I still get flustered when I enter airports and large train stations. I have trouble spotting the one item of information in the sea of information. But that is a brain thing for me. When I am overwhelmed, the very part of my brain that I need has gone into sleep mode.

I love simple instructions. I don’t even mind if there are multiple pages of instructions as long as each set of sub-instructions is clear. I can follow these easily.

But when there are missing pieces or the instructions are unclear, I can’t see a way out. One thing I learned in an airport is this: follow the crowds. It isn’t just my eyes that are looking for the same things I am, there are hundreds of eyes searching. And often their first set of eyes is the most experienced.

Israel is getting ready to finally enter the Promised Land, and they are given a set of instructions to teach them obedience so that they can stay in this new land. They are clearly defined rules teaching simple lessons. Everyone in the community could learn them.

And there were a limited number of rules. This list didn’t go on and on. They weren’t list A for now and list B for later with list C hanging in the wings. They were limited set of rules. But they were a set.

Don’t add to and don’t subtract from. Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

This is where the Israelites failed. The simple lessons on obedience weren’t enough. They kept failing them, so more rules were added to help clarify and prevent infractions. But those rules only made things worse, so more rules were added. Yikes! The list seemed to never end.

They were on hamster wheel. They thought, and kept thinking, that the laws were the means to connection, not as teacher to learn obedience. Oh, that we would learn to trust and obey Jesus.