If the very future of your civilization rested on whether or not you followed a set of very straightforward, simple instructions, how important would those instructions be to you?
The answer to that question is obvious, and purposefully so. Anyone with half a brain would make sure the directions were well-known. You would write them on billboards, flash them on daily news cycles, and possibly even tattoo them on your wrist.
In short, they would be everywhere.
Isn’t that what God is advocating for here in Deuteronomy 11:18? The instructions are simple; we’ve talked about them before. God wanted Israel to “love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him.” Simple.
But the carrying out of these words is another matter. Because God understands that humanity is fickle and forgetful, Moses told them to literally write this idea in as many places as possible: doorposts, gates, and even their foreheads.
As a side note, this verse is one of the passages that inspired the idea of “phylacteries,” or tefillin, as they’re also known. These tiny, leather boxes contain verses of the Torah and are strapped to people’s foreheads as a way (they claim) of keeping them at the forefront of their minds.
In Jesus’ day, however, they were a show of pride. The larger the box, the more verses you had memorized, and the more holy you were than everyone else…obviously.
Regardless, the idea isn’t completely without merit. You need the Law of God at the forefront of your mind. After all, your entire world is at stake!
If the Jews didn’t make a real effort to make the law as well-known as possible, it couldn’t be followed, and if it couldn’t be followed, they would lose the land (Deuteronomy 11:28).
On a personal level, I’ve really tried to follow Deuteronomy 11:19 as much as I can. For whatever reason, I’ve always found talking about God to my friends and family to be somewhat awkward.
That’s not at all how it should be. Instead, Moses argues that it should be a constant topic of conversation. Who is God? Am I following Him? What are His blessings? What does He want from us?
These are the types of things that should govern day-to-day life. Without a constant understanding of the commandments of God, it’s nearly impossible to follow Him. And if we can’t follow Him, everything is lost.