Deuteronomy 10:17-18 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.

People do not switch easily from polytheistic thinking to monotheistic. Moses had to tell the people again and again and again what sort of God it was that had led them out of Egypt to be His own special agents. We get a glimpse of just how deficient their understanding was by Moses including the phrase, “accepts no bribes.” That seems absolutely absurd on the face of it, but truth be told, a lot of people try to relate to God that way. They try to offer Him something they think He might want in exchange for something they want. The most tragic example in the Bible is in the book of Judges, where Jephthah vowed that if God would give him victory, he would sacrifice the first thing that came out of his house to greet him on his return, and he ended up sacrificing his own daughter. (Judges 11) That pleased and benefited no one! God cannot be bribed, and attempts to do so never end well. What God wants of us is obedient hearts that love Him, as the Bible says repeatedly from beginning to end. That said, Moses also had to deal with people not understanding how great God is. They were used to dealing with all sorts of lesser deities, this god for water, that god for fertility, this other god for good crops. At this point, just saying that those other “gods” were non-existent, would not have been received or understood at all. Moses, and many writers after him, said that God is “God of gods” and “Lord of lords.” In other words, no matter what god you might come up with, the Creator is greater and above. With such a transcendent God, Moses also had to touch on His character, and that’s why he mentioned orphans, widows, and resident aliens. Even today we have trouble grasping that God is both as great as He is and also as intimately concerned with human needs.

I could obviously go on for a long time about the character and characteristics of God. Moses doesn’t touch on why there are orphans and widows in the first place, and I am not to get sidetracked by trying to do so myself. We live in a fallen world, and bad things happen. What I am to focus on, in my own life and in my preaching and teaching, is that God is greater and wiser and more loving than any explanation we could come up with. I live and minister in a polytheistic culture, so I would do well to learn from Moses. I am to teach people that God is big enough to care about every detail of their lives, so they don’t need to pray to some saint for minor things and reserve praying to God for big things. That’s a deficient view of God! I am to teach that God is more powerful than all the nuclear weapons in the world and He’s more knowing than any spy agency. Jesus said He even keeps track of how many hairs we have! (Matthew 10:30)

Father, there is indeed no limit to talking about how wonderful You are. Human words are simply not sufficient! Thank You that we will have eternity to praise You, and more than that, to fellowship with You in perfect intimacy. May I be increasingly effective in drawing others into that relationship with You that You desire, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!