When you think of God the lawgiver in the Old Testament, what mental image comes to mind? When you think of the Lord declaring blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, what tone do you imagine that these are delivered with? I would imagine that for many of us, we hear it with the tone of a controlling, possessive parent. We are possibly tempted to imagine God like an angry tyrant who puts demands upon us for no particularly good reason other than that He decided; like the angry father who yells at his children, “Do it because I said so,” without any qualification for why. If this is you, then you have never been more wrong about the God of the Bible.

Towards the end of the book of Leviticus, the Lord declares blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. Throughout the book, the Lord is giving minute details about how His people were to live and act in order that they might be holy so that He might dwell among them. As we get to chapter twenty-six, we read of the ultimate offered blessings for obedience. He says, “I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.” (Leviticus 26:11–12) In this moment, we see the heart of God and why He wanted His people to obey Him and live in holiness. The Lord wanted His people to live in obedience and holiness, so that He might dwell among them in rich fellowship and communion.

A thrice-holy God cannot dwell in the midst of sin. If there is sin in the camp, the consuming fire of the Lord would come forth in judgment. The judgment of God upon sin is an overflow of His holiness as it comes face to face with sin. Sin is like petrol to the flame of holiness. For this reason, the Lord brought forth commands and instructions that would keep His people holy, if they would but listen. It isn’t the heart of a tyrant-God that speaks, but the heart of a loving God that delights to have communion with His people.

This desire for communion and fellowship is what drove God the Father to send forth His Son in order to redeem a people for Himself. It is this same heart that makes Him call His people to holy living, that they might not grieve the Holy Spirit and cause relational dissonance between Himself and His people. The Lord doesn’t delight in the death of the wicked, nor in the punishment of His people, but He loves them too much to leave them in their sin, because He knows that there is no rich communion between Himself and His people when sin abounds.

When you consider the commands of God, see them as a pathway to relational joy with your God, not a list of obstacles to ruin your fun.