“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” (Deut. 5:6–7)
Expanded Passage: Deuteronomy 5:4-7
“OMG!” We all know that is a shortened form of saying, “Oh, My God!” And some people type, text, and write those letters in response to just about everything. A singer announcing a new concert coming to town; a baseball team sweeping their recent series; or even coming home to a surprise birthday party. OMG!
If the Lord is your God, then you will know God as “your God who . . .” That God who has brought you out of slavery and gave you new life. The God who claimed your life from sin and offered you a clean heart. God will not be just one out of many gods who can be domesticated like a house cat.
If there were a lot of gods to choose from then we would be in control of our lives. We could prioritize which god we wanted to call on for each need we faced. We could even rank them by which ones we liked the best. The god of rain would be handy when we found ourselves in drought. The god of our brain would be nice when we were about to be given a test. But the God of Israel calls the shots. He is the One who freed Israel out of a land of slavery. He is the God of Everything. And there are no other gods before him.
Give prayer and worship to the one God of everything.
Rich Eckley is professor emeritus of theology at Houghton University (NY). He is an ordained Wesleyan minister, and enjoys—with his wife Lynn—entertaining their active grandchildren.
© 2025 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
