Based on Deuteronomy 10:12
Introduction: Walking in the Ways of the Lord
The life of faith does not consist solely in having confessed the name of Christ Jesus. Above all, it consists in walking in the ways of the Lord. This distinction is fundamental, and yet it is one of the least understood among those of us who have professed faith in Him.
For several weeks we have been meditating on Deuteronomy 10:12, which establishes a clear protocol of what God requires of every man and every woman:
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
We have been studying the second instruction in this passage: to walk in all His ways. The question we have been answering is: what does it mean, in practical terms, to walk in the ways of the Lord?
Many of us would answer with a list of religious practices: attending church, praying, fasting, giving offerings, tithing. However, we have seen that walking in the ways of the Lord goes far beyond those elements. It is grounded in the knowledge and understanding that each person has developed of God — of His works, of what pleases Him, and of what displeases Him.
The Lord Himself warned in Matthew 7:21-23 that not everyone who calls Him “Lord, Lord” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of the Father. And in Luke He asked plainly: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”
The ways of the Lord are not predetermined processes, formulas, or outward behaviors. They are the life of each man and each woman when they walk in a manner pleasing before Him. To help us understand their boundaries and characteristics, we will study three biblical examples: Moses, King David, and the apostle Peter.
First Characteristic: The Ways of the Lord Are Walked in Obedience
The Case of Moses — Numbers 20:7-12
The text that grounds this first characteristic is Numbers 20:7-12. To understand it in context, we must remember that this was not the first time the people lacked water in the desert. A similar event had occurred previously, recorded in Exodus 17:5-6, where God’s instruction was specific:
“Speak to the rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water.”
Moses obeyed on that occasion, and water flowed to sustain more than six hundred thousand people and their livestock. In Numbers 20, the scene repeats: the people complain again, they threaten Moses and Aaron, and God gives a new instruction. This time, however, there is a decisive element: Moses was deeply weary of the people. Years of complaints, laments, and threats had built up a frustration in him that, at that critical moment, overflowed.
We read in verse 11 that Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out anyway, and the people drank. But God’s response was severe:
“Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
Why Was Moses’ Disobedience So Serious?
God’s purpose was not merely to provide water. It was to teach the people that one cannot walk in God’s name under an attitude of rebellion. Through Moses’ exact, obedient act, God intended to sanctify Himself before the people — to reveal Himself as the Lord who transforms even the most tense situations when He is trusted and obeyed.
There is also a prophetic dimension we cannot overlook. The apostle Paul declares in his epistles that the rock was a type of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). Christ was crucified once for the forgiveness of sins; by striking the rock twice, Moses inadvertently introduced a doctrinal distortion. He was communicating symbolically that Christ could be crucified again — a direct contradiction of the completed, finished work of redemption.
But beyond the prophetic symbolism, what the Lord judged was the disobedience itself: Moses did not do what he was instructed to do. And that disobedience had consequences not only for him, but for the entire people. As Romans 5:19 states:
“For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”
The Lesson Moses Learned
The depth of this lesson marked Moses so profoundly that when he wrote the instructions of Deuteronomy 5:32, he expressed it with great precision:
“So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left.”
It does not require a large deviation. Not even a gross, visible error. It may be just a fraction of a step to the right or to the left — but the instruction is clear: no movement outside of what the Lord commands is permissible in His ways.
Conclusion of the First Characteristic
Where there is disobedience, there is no way of the Lord. This applies even if the person attends a congregation, confesses the name of Jesus, tithes, prays, and fasts. Disobedience is the door that opens access to the kingdom of darkness. Attitudes of pride, rebellion, persistent bitterness, or sustained defiance are signs that one is not walking in the ways of the Lord — regardless of whatever other religious practices one may observe.
Second Characteristic: The Ways of the Lord Are Walked in Justice
The Case of King David — 2 Samuel 12:1-13
The prophet Nathan was sent by God to David with a parable. He spoke of a rich man who, though he owned many flocks, took the only little lamb of a poor man to feed a visitor. David’s indignation was immediate:
“As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
Then Nathan answered with one of the most powerful statements in all of Scripture: “You are the man!” He proceeded to enumerate four injustices David had committed: treating the word of the Lord with contempt, causing the death of Uriah the Hittite, taking his wife for himself, and using the hand of the enemy to carry out his plan.
David Could Not See His Own Error
One of the most revealing aspects of this account is that David had been unable to discern, on his own, the gravity of what he had done. A considerable amount of time had passed, and he had not realized he was outside the ways of the Lord. It took the direct intervention of God, through a prophet, for David to see it.
This teaches us something crucial: when a man or woman steps outside the ways of the Lord, they generally cannot see it. The god of this age blinds the mind, and that blindness is not exclusive to those outside the faith. It is also possible in those who are within it — in those who have received teaching but persist in a pattern of injustice.
God does not only use prophets to open eyes. Many times He sends circumstances, events, and adversities that shake us and confront us with our true condition. This is why we cannot automatically label everything difficult as coming from Satan. Many times, what appears to be an adversity is God’s mercy calling us to examine whether we have strayed from His ways.
The Connection to the Promise in Matthew 6
Jesus taught in Matthew 6:33: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Yet we often read that promise without pausing on the condition: the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. You cannot separate the Kingdom from justice. When our lives contain unrepaired injustices — wrongs we never addressed, harm we caused and forgot, dishonesty we justified with the passage of time — we fall outside the conditions that activate the promise.
The account of Zacchaeus in Luke 19 makes this clear: the Lord said
“Today salvation has come to this house”
when Zacchaeus declared he would repay four times the amount he had taken unjustly. Salvation and restitution cannot be separated. We cannot choose only the texts that are comfortable and ignore the ones that challenge us.
Conclusion of the Second Characteristic
The ways of the Lord are walked in justice. Where there is injustice, there is no way of the Lord. This includes injustices we commit against those closest to us, those we leave unrepaired hoping time will take care of them, and those we justify with reasoning that, however convincing it may sound to us, is not acceptable before God. Psalm 18:21 captures the declaration of a restored David:
“For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I am not guilty of turning from my God.”
That is the call for each of us: not to cling to what we did, but to make it right and place ourselves once again in the ways of the Lord.
Third Characteristic: The Ways of the Lord Are Walked in Truth, Not in Words
The Case of the Apostle Peter — Matthew 26:31-35 and Luke 22:61-62
The final week of Jesus’ ministry in Jerusalem was charged with tension and anticipation. The disciples believed that Jesus was about to be enthroned as the Davidic Messiah — that He would defeat His religious and political enemies and establish His kingdom over Israel. The atmosphere was one of euphoria, expectation, and self-confidence. In that context, Jesus warned them:
“This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’”
Peter’s response was forceful: “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” Jesus answered him plainly: “Truly I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And Peter insisted: “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” All the other disciples said the same.
The Contrast Between Words and Actions
Hours later, Luke 22:61-62 gives us the outcome with a sobering stillness: “The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: ‘Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.’ And he went outside and wept bitterly.”
Peter wept bitterly because he understood a lesson that would mark him forever: the ways of the Lord are not measured by the words we speak, but by the actions we sustain. Proverbs warns that where there is a multitude of words, sin is not absent. It is not the quantity or the intensity of what we declare that defines whether we are in the ways of the Lord — it is the reality of our actions.
Peter’s Transformation
After that weeping, Peter essentially withdrew for a time. He learned to be quiet, to stop making promises his strength could not keep. When Jesus asked him in John 21 whether he loved Him, Peter did not dare to make bold proclamations. He simply answered: “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” He had come to understand that the Lord does not evaluate declared intentions — He evaluates lived actions.
This third characteristic does not mean we should not speak or confess our faith. It means that our words must be backed by our actions — that what we say must be consistent with how we live. Truth, in the ways of the Lord, is always an embodied reality, not a statement of intentions.
Conclusion of the Third Characteristic
The ways of the Lord are walked in truth. Where words have no backing in actions, there is no way of the Lord. God does not judge the intentions we proclaim; He judges the reality of what we live.
Conclusion: A Necessary Self-Examination
We have studied three fundamental characteristics of the ways of the Lord through three men who knew God deeply, but who at certain moments stepped outside His ways:
1. The ways of the Lord are walked in obedience. Where there is disobedience, there is no way of the Lord.
2. The ways of the Lord are walked in justice. Where there is injustice, there is no way of the Lord.
3. The ways of the Lord are walked in truth. Where words do not match actions, there is no way of the Lord.
These characteristics are not a judgment on someone else’s life. They are a mirror that the Holy Spirit holds before us so that each person can examine their own life. The question is not about pointing at a brother or sister, but about asking ourselves honestly: Am I walking in obedience, or have I drifted? Are there injustices in my life that I have not repaired? Do my words have the backing of my actions?
The Lord cares for us. That is precisely why He gives us instruction, confronts us, and corrects us. Not to condemn us, but so that we can adjust our course and place ourselves once again where we ought to be. The final purpose remains the same one established in Deuteronomy 10:12: that we love the Lord our God, that we serve Him with all our heart and all our soul, and that we walk in all His ways.
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. — Deuteronomy 10:12”
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