Bible Commentaries

Deuteronomy 12:8-9

Moses warns the Israelites here in the text that it would be a great mistake if they supposed themselves more at their ease and liberty when they were in Canaan than when they were in the wilderness. He mentions it as one of the advantages of Canaan that they would there be able to live by a stricter and more exact rule than they could possibly do in the desert. In the same way, our Saviour, inviting us to the blessings of the Gospel, describes them as a yoke and a burden, easy, indeed, and light, yet still a yoke and a burden.

I. We see, then, that both the law and the Gospel consider it a great blessing to be kept under strict rules. This way of thinking is by no means the way of the world. People in general like nothing so much as having their own choice in all things. We see this: (1) in the eagerness of children to get out of the state of childhood; (2) in our unwillingness to take advice, even from the wisest; (3) in our unwillingness to let God choose for us, and our impatience under the burdens He lays upon us.

II. To have this thought of being overruled and guided at every step firmly fixed within us will prove the greatest of all blessings both as to our rest in this world and our inheritance in that which is to come. It helps us greatly in the performance of our duty, because, in truth, it leaves us nothing else to do. It prepares and trains us for everlasting happiness in heaven. For the very secret of our enjoyment there will be that God's will shall be ours. It shows the high and noble uses to which we may turn all our worst disappointments. They are so many lessons in God's school, each intended to make us more perfect in that Divine art of having the same will that He has.

Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times" vol. ii., p. 104 (see also Keble, Sermons for the Christian Year: Ascension Day to Trinity Sunday, p. 53).

References: Deuteronomy 12:9.—Parker, vol. v., p. 9. Deuteronomy 12:10.—Ibid., p. 10. Deut 12.—Ibid., p. 220.