God's Word calls His people to adore Him exclusively and completely and to love people as themselves.

God realizes His people need protection from the pains and heartaches of the world.

In Deuteronomy 11, God offers Israel a choice; either a life of productivity and enjoyment made possible by obedience to Him, or a life of difficulty and opposition made necessary by disobedience. The happiness Israel desires can only be theirs by being properly related to Him.

Equal justice under law is a spiritual as well as a civic principle.

God wanted Israel, as He wants Christians, to learn to utterly abhor and detest anything that had the potential of coming between them and their God. The believer's enemies are typically internal rather than external, and they pose a powerful threat to spiritual health and progress.

Although God's people find many successes in the world, they must not fall prey to a spirit of pride. We succeed not because of our moral superiority but because of the faithfulness of our divine intercessor and because of the great mercy of God.

If Israel is to please the Lord fully, they will live lives that are as distinctive among the nations as their Lord is different from pagan deities.