The Gift We Run From

In the early-morning hours, off the coast of southern England, the captain of a ferryboat saw what he thought was a familiar sight—a seal bobbing in the frigid waters. As the boat drew closer, however, they realized that it wasn’t a seal after all. It was a dog, fighting against the waves and the strong current in the busy shipping channel.

As soon as they put a ladder into the water, the dog put her paws on the bottom rung. After one of the men jumped in and hoisted her up, she jumped into someone’s lap, exhausted, hungry, and scared. The kind men wrapped her in blankets and gave her something to eat.

Wondering how such a strange thing could occur, they posted pictures of the dog on social media, hoping to find her owner. Within a few hours someone recognized her as Amber, a 5-year-old retriever who had been missing for more than a month.

Amber had quite a backstory. She was born in Qatar, a small peninsula nation in the Arabian Gulf. As a street dog she didn’t have much of a future. Somehow she was brought to a shelter, where she spent the majority of the first five years of her life in a crate. Eventually a British family brought her back to the UK, and she was placed into a foster home that cared for her until she was adopted.

During Amber’s first day in her new home she was let out into the garden. She immediately jumped the eight-foot fence and ran. The family pursued her, but the dog eluded them at every turn.

A search effort was initiated. Volunteers set up feeding stations and cameras, spread the word on social media, and put up posters. Even though there were 65 documented sightings, no one could catch her. By the time she was rescued and returned home, Amber had covered more than 160 kilometers (100 miles) in 36 days. Now the members of her adopted family are doing their best to love her and win her trust.

Created for Intimacy

When I first read this story, my initial thought was that we human beings aren’t that different from Amber. Because of our own traumatic experiences in this broken world, we don’t always know whom we can trust. Even sincere attempts on the part of others to show kindness or affection may be interpreted as a threat. The intimacy is too risky, and in our own way, we run.

All God has ever wanted is to be with us. He created us for this intimate divine-human connection. After Adam and Eve rebelled, their sin-blurred vision caused them to view God as a threat, and they ran from His presence. God, in hot pursuit, calls out to them, “Where are you?”

This scenario is repeated countless times throughout salvation history. God relentlessly pursues a human race whose disobedience has made them God-averse. Time and time again we reject and misinterpret His overtures of love, one of the most powerful of which is the giving of the Ten Commandments.

This view of God’s law—as a pledge of His love and an intrinsic part of the journey back into His presence—is most clearly seen when we view the Ten Commandments as 10 promises.

The Law of Love?

Hold on. I know what you may be thinking. The Ten Commandments as an expression of love? Perhaps it is the authoritative “thou shalt not” language. Or maybe it’s the thunder and smoke on Mount Sinai that leads us to interpret the giving of God’s law as more of a threat than a blessing. Perhaps we, like Adam and Eve, view this passage of Scripture through the same sin-obscured vision.

After God delivered His covenant people from Egyptian bondage, giving them a taste of freedom and much-needed rest, He took them on a journey. The ultimate goal was the land that He had promised to Abraham and his descendants. The initial destination was Mount Sinai, where God would ratify a covenant with His people. But there was a more immediate, a more personal destination than the towering peak itself.

“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (Ex. 19:4, ESV).

God simply wants to be with His people and to restore the relationship that was lost. The Ten Commandments are an intrinsic part of the journey back into the presence of God. Just as Adam and Eve’s sin brought separation, their disobedience carving the yawning rift between God and humanity, the giving of the law is part of the bridge back into the Divine Presence. “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city” (Rev. 22:14).

It is true that we are not saved by our obedience to the law. We are saved by Christ’s obedience to the law—His righteousness (or right doing) that is both credited to our account and demonstrated by the work of His Spirit in our lives. As so beautifully stated in the book Steps to Christ, “So we have nothing in ourselves of which to boast. We have no ground for self-exaltation. Our only ground of hope is in the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and in that wrought by His Spirit working in and through us.”*

Ten Promises

But while we are saved by grace, we are not saved without obedience. The rebellion that let Adam and Eve out of the garden must be driven out of our hearts as well. We are to “speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom” (James 2:12, NIV), because lives of obedience demonstrate the power of God’s transforming grace and love.

This view of God’s law—as a pledge of His love and an intrinsic part of the journey back into His presence—is most clearly seen when we view the Ten Commandments as 10 promises. It has been argued that the Ten Commandments might literally be translated as the Ten Words, as the Hebrew word dabarim doesn’t literally mean commandments. The singular, dabar, is, however, also translated in the writings of Moses as promise. We could rightly say that God’s Ten Commandments are really 10 promises.

How does that change our idea of the Ten Commandments? Imagine God drawing Israel close to His side as a father pulls his children near to him. As He does, He essentially says, “By My grace, these are things that you will do and will not do. You will live a transformed life. You will be faithful, truthful, and content. You will be God-honoring and respectful of the lives and rights of your fellow humankind. And this will happen because of the full demonstration of My boundless love, and as you respond to Me by your willing and unreserved surrender to My love.”

That is really what this is all about. The fulfillment of God’s 10 promises in our lives takes place through His restorative love and grace in the human heart, for love is the fulfillment of the law.

“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:8-10, ESV).

Lord, may our love for You grow stronger and deeper as we receive Your faithful love. May our vision of You grow clearer as You remove the obstruction of sin from our lives. And as You draw us closer to Yourself, may we say with David, “Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me and teach me your law” (Ps. 119:29, NIV).

*Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1956), p. 63.