Daily Bible Reading Tuesday 10th November 2020
by William Moody
Exodus 20:1–7
The Ten Commandments
20:1 And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before1 me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands2 of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
(ESV)
The Third Commandment
(Shorter Catechisms 53-56)
‘The third commandment requires the holy and reverent use of God’s names, titles, attributes, ordinances, word and works.’ (A.54). ‘The third commandment forbids all profaning or abusing of anything whereby God makes himself known.’ (A.55).
Sadly we live in days when God’s name and Jesus’ names are used regularly as swear words. People often don’t even realise they are doing this and they need to be warned.
The Catechism says, “the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment from men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgment.” (A.56)
We need to be careful that we don’t just focus on others who use God’s Name as a swear Word. We need to be careful how we use God’s name when we pray or sing His praise. We mustn’t just be going through the motions, but when God’s Name is on our lips then it must truly be from our hearts. This takes effort and concentration, and above all we need the help of the Spirit.
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