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Deuteronomy Episode 2 - Guarding Your Heart: Finding God in a World of Idols
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What makes Deuteronomy so powerful that Jesus quoted it three times when facing Satan's temptations? This profound exploration of Deuteronomy 6 reveals why this ancient book remains essential for believers today.
Standing at the edge of the Promised Land, Moses delivers critical instructions to a new generation of Israelites. His central message? Guard your heart with vigilance. As our panel of experts—theologian Paul Blackham, psychiatrist Sunil Raheja, and educator Dawn Carew-Smith—unpack this wisdom, we discover how easily our hearts create idols that compete with our love for God.
The dangers of creating our own images of God prove especially relevant in today's culture. We often fashion a deity who matches our preferences rather than embracing God as He truly reveals Himself. Moses reminds us that God has His own image—ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ—and we must see Him on His terms, not ours.
While exploring the tension between God's love and His holiness as "consuming fire," our conversation faces the uncomfortable reality that God doesn't owe us explanations. Yet this sovereign God also promises that no matter how far we stray, His mercy remains available when we return with genuine repentance.
The Ten Commandments emerge not as burdensome rules but as wisdom for living in relationship with God. When we truly love Him with all our heart, soul, and strength, following His ways becomes our natural response. This first and greatest commandment becomes the foundation from which all other obedience flows.
Whether you're new to exploring the Bible or seeking deeper understanding, this discussion will help you appreciate why the ancient wisdom of Deuteronomy remains transformative today. Share your thoughts with us and discover how loving God completely can reshape every area of your life.
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Introduction to Deuteronomy
Speaker 1Hello and welcome to , book by Book , the joy of meeting Jesus in all the scriptures . I'm Steve Nicholls , and it's great to have you with us for our second study in the Old Testament , book of Deuteronomy . Did you know , when Satan tempted the Lord Jesus at the start of his ministry , the Lord responded each time with words from the book of Deuteronomy . It's such an important book for us to get to grips with , and perhaps you don't know it as well as you'd like to . Well , we're here to learn from it together , and returning with me today is Dr Paul Blackham , church planter , church minister and theologian , dr Sunil Raheja , psychiatrist coach and author , and joining me today is Dr Dawn Carew-Smith , former head teacher , now international speaker . Thank you for joining me today . Well , we'll dive straight into Deuteronomy and chapter 6 . So , if you've got a Bible there Deuteronomy , chapter 6 , I'll read a few verses from verse 4 . Hear , o Israel , the Lord , our God . The Lord is one . Love the Lord , your God , with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength . These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts . Impress them on your children , talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road when you lie down and when , and we skip on to verse 12 .
Speaker 1So now let's just back up a little bit to chapter four . So Moses , he's an old man now . He's standing there on the border of the promised land . They've been there , of course , 40 years before with the previous generation , but because of their lack of faith and their disobedience , they've been told to turn around and go back into the wilderness . Now , 40 years on , the next generation is there , about to enter the promised land , and Moses tells them to watch , to watch themselves closely . This is chapter 4 , verse 9 and verse 15 . Sunil , how do we watch ourselves closely and why is watching ourselves so important
Guarding Your Heart
Speaker 1?
Speaker 2Yeah , it's a vital question , steve . I mean watching ourselves , because it is so easy to fall away , it is so easy to let our disciples verse 23 . It says , above all else , guard your heart , for it is the wellspring of life , this importance of guarding and protecting our hearts . Because we live in a world , you know , it was tough for the Israelites . Think about our day and age . You know we live in a world that's increasingly cynical , confusing , complex and chaotic , and it was like that before COVID . It's even more so now . And if I'm not guarding my heart , it's so much easy for the distractions of this world , the mindset of this world , which is so often opposed to the ways of God , it's so easy for that to seep in and to become more and more the reality of the way that we live . And so , if you like , but what is our heart ? Is our decision center , it's where we decide where our loyalty is , what we really love .
Speaker 2And psychologists talk about how we make decisions for emotional reasons , but then we try to justify them using logic . And you , you know it's because what the heart most loves and trusts , the mind finds reasonable , the emotions find desirable , and then the will starts to say I've got to find a way to do what I really love . If you go back to that Proverbs in chapter 24 , 26 , it says Put away perversity from your mouth . Keep corrupt talk far from your lips . Let your eyes look straight ahead . Fix your gaze directly before you . So this is all about how do I guard my heart and what I allow myself to look at , what I allow myself to gaze at and think about . Those affect our heart and what I allow myself to look at .
Speaker 3What I allow myself to gaze at and think about .
Speaker 2Those affect our heart . And it's not just about saying I love God , because the Israelites said that . They said how much they loved God and they said they were going to do everything for him . But what happens , if you like , when we say in English , when the rubber hits the road , when the challenges come , when the problems come , it shows where our hearts really are . I love this story about a man who proposes to his girlfriend and he says to her darling , I love you with all my heart , I want to marry you , I want to share my life with you . I might not be as rich as my cousin John , but everything I have I want to give to you . And she says oh , I love you as well . I love you with all my heart , but just tell me a little bit more about your cousin john . And isn't that what happens with us ? We say to god we love it .
Speaker 2The israelites were saying that on the edge of promised land . Yes , you've done everything , but it's so easy for other things to become more lovely to us because we aren't . As this proverb is saying is that you know we're , we're , we're going off the path , and that's a daily battle . So I need to have to guard my heart . I need to have some kind of daily routine that allows me to immerse myself in his word and in his goodness and love to me , because if I don't , there are going to be voices . They're going to say well , god doesn't really love you that much . This is much more exciting . That's a much better thing to do why don't ?
Speaker 2you just go that way we know god's not as as good as he makes out in his work .
Speaker 1That's helpful , and it's households as well , isn't it here , dawn paul ? I don't think . Is there anything you you'd like to add to ?
Speaker 4yeah , well , because I like . The fact , then , is about take it in and read it and share it with your family each day , discuss it when you're at table and things like that , and it's just the fact that Bible study isn't something like oh , that's something we do when we go have a lecture , or it's something academics do or something he's like no , no , this is like kids , family at home you're just talking about . It's just part of your daily routine . It's not something only for specialists , it's for everybody .
Speaker 1They say , don't they ? The first generation believes it , the next generation assumes it and then the third generation forgets it . So it's so important , isn't it , to pass it on Sorry .
Speaker 3Dawn , you were going to say that . I was going to say that I think often we try to start too late to get our children into it , whereas if , from the moment they're born , even before they're born , you know , you're praying over them .
Speaker 3When they come out , that's what they know . You know there's a saying we have in education children learn what they live , and so if they live in a lifestyle where the word of God is treasured and it's considered to be an important and integral part of your life , that's what they'll learn . They can get to an age where they can make their own decisions . It's our responsibility , I think , to give them that opportunity .
Speaker 1That's so helpful . It's just normal life for them , isn't it ? It's all they know , but it's also a daily battle , isn't it ?
Speaker 2Because I think we live in a materialistic , sensual culture and world that's always , as it were , creating more giants for us and saying this is more interesting . Why didn't you go in this direction ? And you know , know , I think , was it Martin Luther said . You know that the human heart is an idol factory . We're always creating other things that we're saying oh , that , that would be better , that'd be more enticing . But that's why this guarding one's heart is just so precious and so important thank you .
Speaker 1Well , let's move on , paul . Chapter 4 , verse 12 Moses is talking about the time , 40 years earlier , when the angel of the Lord led the Israelites to Mount Sinai and they received the law . Why does Moses remind them so intensely about the fact that they didn't see the form of God , the Father , at Mount Sinai
The Danger of Creating Idols
Speaker 1?
Speaker 4And it's all to do with this thing about idolatry that they may make their own image of God . And he's like no , no , you can't make an image of God . Because when they do make their own images of God , they're stupid things and the Bible is like animals or sticks or trees , or we might do it in the form of intellectual idols . And we'll say I like to think of God this way and the Lord God's like I don't care how you like to think about me , this is how I am . But it's interesting because he says don't make how you like to think about me , this is how I am . But it's interesting because we'll say he says don't make any images of me .
Speaker 4And if we think about the Bible as a whole , the real danger , well , the reason he says that is because he's got his own image , like Jesus is the image of the invisible God . So he's like don't you make an image of me . I've got my own image and he is my eternal son , who is a perfect representation of me . If you really want to see what I look like , look at him . Look at him . And back then there's the angel of the Lord who's travelling with them in the pillar of cloud and fire , and he's like there . Just look at the angel of the Lord who's travelling with them in the pillar of cloud and fire , and he's like there . Just look at the angel of the Lord , listen to him , follow him . He'll show you what I'm like . Don't go making some half-baked , stupid little images and things , because your ideas about God are stupid and dangerous because they end up actually pulling our gaze down , not up yes .
Speaker 2And isn't that so much like our culture , because we like to say that I like to imagine and think of God this way . Yeah , and you know , it's a bit like you know , dawn , we've only met today for the first time and if Dawn if I say actually Dawn , I don't know you very well , but I like to imagine that actually you are from South America and that you enjoy playing golf in your spare time and that you are a professional wrestler .
Speaker 4OK , laughter .
Speaker 2But you say that's nothing like me . But I say but , dawn , it makes me feel good , it gives me a lot of peace in my life to think of you in that way . Well , actually I'm insulting you , I'm not honouring you at all , and we do that with God . We create an image in our head that's actually an idol , that's nothing like the real person , and and that is what causes so much problems in our lives , because then we get God doesn't know , doesn't answer our prayers or do the things that we way we expect , because we've got a completely wrong image of him because we don't recognize his sovereignty , because god is sovereign he can do what he wants , when he wants , where he wants , to whom he wants , for as long as he wants , and that's what makes him god , you know , and I wouldn't want a god who wasn't like that but , yet when he doesn't do the things that we want , we forget about his sovereignty .
Speaker 3We forget that that's what makes him god the fact that he is sovereign . That's what makes him worthy of our praise . That's what makes him , you know , someone that we can trust and believe in , because he is a sovereign god I'd much rather he was my personal assistant .
Speaker 2Give me what I wanted yeah , but he isn't .
Speaker 3He's sovereign , so that gives him we don't know what gives him . That means that he has free reign to do what he sees best and it does , and when we don't agree with it , then you want to say he's not for me he's not a loving god , but he's a multifaceted god and included in that is his sovereignty .
Speaker 3And I think when we understand that he is a sovereign god , then we'll understand there's nothing we can understand . His ways are above our ways . His thoughts are above our thoughts . He doesn't even count time the way we count time you know , day for for him is like a thought for us is a thousand years for us you know , so we can't try and conceptualize this god . That's what makes him god the fact that he's beyond our understanding , beyond our logic , beyond our reason , beyond our control .
Speaker 1So that's what I really think is so awesome about god and , and he reveals himself in his image , the Lord Jesus Christ . He says if you want to meet me , this is where you meet me , this is how you meet me through my image . Absolutely , Dawn . Can I stay with you ? I've got a question . So , chapter 4 , verses 23 and 24 , again we're thinking about the character of the Lord . The Lord is a consuming fire , a jealous God . That's an intense description of God .
Speaker 3How are we to apply this to our lives today . Well , you know , we tend to want to just choose the warm , snuggly , cuddly bits of God . You know , he's a loving God , he's a kind God , he's a generous God , he's absolutely all of those things , but he's also a consuming fire .
Speaker 2He's also a jealous God .
Speaker 3He's a powerful God . So I think when we recognise that in our lives , we'll get ourselves in perspective , because I think the aspects of God that we want to tap into you know , the ones I mentioned they're things that we can conceive with our mind , but a God who's a consuming fire , that's not something we want to think about . So what we need to do is we need to make sure that there's no area of our lives in which we are creating idols , as you were saying . It's not carving a physical idol , but we can create emotional idols . We can create things , you know , spiritual idols , things that we perceive to be more important than God .
Speaker 3We may not say it because we're lovely Christians , but we give them more time . We give them more time , we give them more priority , whether it's our career , whether it's raising our family , whether it's our business , whatever it might be . Sometimes it can be our own gifts and talents and we somehow seem to think that those are wonderful and we give them that place of an idol over God . And I think what this verse really is just reminding us is that we need to stock , take and just recognise within ourselves . In the hierarchy of my life , where is God . What place am I giving him ? Yes , you know how do I see him . Do I see him as my friend ? Do I see him , as you know , a benevolent uncle ? What do we see God as in our lives ? And if we understood he's a sovereign God , he's a consuming fire , he's a jealous God , he's a consuming fire , he's a jealous God
God as Consuming Fire
Speaker 3then we would understand .
Speaker 3There's no way that we can put any idols before him , above him or beside him . Even he is the one true and living God .
Speaker 2I think what CS Lewis said is that God made man in his own image , and ever since then man's been returning the compliment . We keep on trying to make him in our own image . We try to make him in our own image . Yes , and ever since then , man's been returning the compliment .
Speaker 4Yes , in a sense , we keep on trying to make him in our own image .
Speaker 2We try to make him in our own way , in our own , and , yes , he is loving , but , as you said , he's also holy .
Speaker 3Yes .
Speaker 2And also he's a God who does judge . Yes , and we just want to think of him . You know , again , we sort of project this idea that he's just the best bits of me on my best day . Oh no , no , he's completely separate , he's completely unique , and there are things about God that I find difficult , that I wish he wasn't that way . But , like in any relationship with anybody , if I'm going to know a person as they really are , I've got to , as it were , confront the things that are not necessarily the things I'm going to agree with , but that's a relationship , and God calls us into relationship with him .
Speaker 3And because he's God , he doesn't owe us any explanations . No , and that's hard , because in this day and age , we think , you know , we've got to get closure and we've got to get this . He's God , he's God yeah .
Speaker 2He simply doesn't owe us . But .
Speaker 3I'm not God , any explanation , because he is God and I am not .
Speaker 1Let me move us on . No , no , we could talk about these things for a long time , but Sunil , if I may , with you , deuteronomy 4 , verses 28 to 30, . It describes a time when the Israelites will , in the future , turn away from the Lord , and what will happen to them . Yes , how is this a word of hope for us in our day , a word that reminds us that renewal and revival is always possible
God's Promise of Renewal
Speaker 1with the Lord ? Let me just read it , because they're important words .
Speaker 2God says to them there you will worship man-made gods of wooden stone which cannot see or hear , or eat or smell , but if , from there , you seek the Lord , your God , you will find him . If you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul when you are in distress and all these things have happened to you , then in later days you will return to the Lord , your God and obey him . And I think it's a huge source of hope , because so often we do things , we say things , we get ourselves into situations where we think I've really blown it , there's no way God would want me back and maybe some of the people who are watching us now are in a situation like that . And what this is a reminder of and what God says again and again that no matter how great the sin is , no matter how far away you fall away from me , if you come back in repentance and faith , my love is there for you .
Speaker 2Or , as the song says , our sins there are many , but your mercy is more . The only sin , if you like , that God can't forgive is the sin of pride and stubbornness that says I don't want you and I don't need you . Apart from that , if we come with repentance , if we , if we grieve over our sin , if we realize how much we've hurt him , then he's there for us and church history . You know , I think what's so staggering when we read the scriptures and in a sense , what's amazed me about reading the Bible compared to any other religious book is that when you read the story of God's people , you realise how foolish , how stupid , how arrogant , how disobedient they are and yet how God , in his love , always is available to them if they will turn to repentance and faith .
Speaker 2Return to me and I will return to you and that's a beautiful message . That's great .
Speaker 1Paul , if we move on now to chapter 5 , Moses is looking back to that time at Mount Sinai 40 years earlier . What's going on in verses 4 and 5 ? Can you unpack that for us a little bit ?
Speaker 4Yeah , because the lord spoke to you face to face , out the father mountain , and then in my bible , here it goes a bracket bit . At that time I stood between the lord and you to declare the word of god , and often people go that's moses and he's interrupting the lord , going oh actually I was mediating between the lord and the people and you just stop a minute and go . I don't think that's likely that Moses interrupts the Lord . Can I just say something about myself now ?
Speaker 4And of course that's ridiculous because we've just been hearing how awesome the Lord God is . But we also have heard that the Lord has already somebody who does this job of mediating , and it is the Lord Jesus , the eternal son , the angel of the Lord , the commander of heaven's army . And so if we go back to ancient times , they knew that verse five of Deuteronomy five is him speaking the Lord . They saw the Lord face to face , this one who is the mediator , jesus , and then they go ah , he's the one who says I'm the one standing between the Lord and you to make it possible for you to meet the Lord God . So that's what . And if you go back to ancient times , they knew that it meant that that it's the Lord who's his own mediator in that deep sense .
Speaker 1Yeah , thank you , paul . That's wonderful . He needs to be mediated to us and us to him .
Speaker 4Thank you , paul , that's wonderful he needs to be mediated to us and us to him .
Speaker 1Dawn , the Ten
The Ten Commandments in Daily Life
Speaker 1Commandments . Tell us how have they impacted you and your life and ministry , if you would .
Speaker 3I was raised in a Christian home where the Bible principles in general and the Ten Commandments in particular were what we lived . We had no choice . And it wasn't just the big ones like don't steal , don't murder , you know , it was the honour your father and mother it was to remember the Sabbath day , to keep it . It was all of those , and so they made a massive impression upon our lives and are indeed the foundation on which I've built the rest of my life .
Speaker 3I'm not saying that , you know , I've kept every command every day of my life , but what I'm saying is that that's the yardstick that I use , that's the measure by which I live my life , because I understand that that was God's standard and that's what God put in place . And and with our ministry it's the same thing . You know , we don't change what God has said to suit us . We should change us to suit what God has said . It's the other way around , and so I think that they're a wonderful tool there for our lives and for our ministries , and for what we do in general in our lives and what we teach the next generation in terms of how to live in a way that would please the Lord .
Speaker 1It's the original Sermon on the Mount , isn't ?
Speaker 3it . It absolutely is For a redeemed people for a people that's been saved .
Speaker 4This is how to live .
Speaker 1That's wonderful . What a privilege to be brought up with that .
Speaker 2So , noel , how have you found the wisdom of the Ten Commandments from your perspective as a psychiatrist and a coach ? Wow , I think what's amazing about Ten Commandments is that , although they were written all those years ago , how Jesus takes them to another level . And so we have do not murder . And then , as you know you mentioned Dawn about the Sermon on the Mount Jesus takes do not murder and says if you call your neighbour a fool or you insult them , you call them right , then you've committed murder in your heart . He says if you look at a woman lustfully he talks to the men but have lustful thoughts in your heart , you've committed adultery . Now you're taking .
Speaker 2You know we say I don't murder , I don't commit adultery . He takes it to a completely different level and saying thinking wrong thoughts is as bad as doing them . And I think one of the words we've lost in our culture , speaking as a psychiatrist and a coach , is this issue of guilt and shame , the fact that actually I , and maybe in my thought life things I've looked at , I think there's a huge rise of depression in our culture , a huge sense of feeling isolated and alone , a huge sense of , although we're connected with electronic devices , we've never felt more lonely , and a lot of that is around unspoken and unconfessed guilt and things that I've not really been able to share with anybody .
Speaker 1Um , so I'm gonna oh , that's , that's very helpful . I'm just gonna to move us on because time is almost gone Dawn . If I may ask you our last question , why is loving the Lord , our God , the most important commandment ?
Speaker 3I look at it like this it's the tree upon which all of the other things are just branches . If I love the Lord , then I want to obey him . If I love the Lord , I want to serve him . If I love the Lord , I want to tell others about him . All of those things come from loving him . When you really love someone , you want to please them . When you love someone , you want to do the things that you know they would like you to do . You want to make them happy , and so I think , if we genuinely love the Lord , it takes the focus off of ourselves and what we want and onto what he wants , and so that's why I think it's just so important .
Speaker 1That's a wonderful note to end
Loving God: The Greatest Commandment
Speaker 1on Dawn . Thank you so much . Thank you for being with us . Dawn . Paul Sunil , thank you for our time together . Thank you . Here's our key truth today . Unless we love the Lord , god with all our heart , we will stray , grumble and struggle .
Speaker 1Bhagat Singh was one of the most effective evangelists the world has ever seen . He was born in India to a Hindu family , raised as a Sikh and wanted nothing to do with the Christian faith . When he graduated from school , he was presented with a beautiful leather-bound Bible . He simply tore off the cover and threw the contents faith . When he graduated from school , he was presented with a beautiful leather-bound Bible . He simply tore off the cover and threw the contents away . But years later , while he was an overseas student , he was on board a ship to Canada and he heard there was going to be a Christian service on the ship and , not wanting to be thought narrow-minded , he slipped into the back . When the minister preached he fell asleep . But at the end of the service everyone knelt to pray and , reluctantly , he knelt too and as he did , he was overwhelmed with the reality of Christ's presence with him . It was the start of his becoming a Christian . He began to devour the Bible and he wrote in his diary .
Speaker 1I found these words written again and again God said , god said , god said . I found these words 500 times and even this was a blessing to me . God speaks . So I said speak to me . I want to hear your voice . I have no ambition for anything else . The longing of my soul is that you should speak to me and show me your way , day by day . It's a staggering thought that the God of the universe speaks to us and shows us how to live . Lord , god , we thank you that you spoke to your ancient church of Israel and you speak to us in your word Today . Lord , we want to love you with all our heart , soul and strength so that we can follow your ways , amen . Well , that's it for Book by Book today . Thank you for sharing in our time together Until next time . God bless you and goodbye , bye .
