Center for Creative Ministry A research organization and research center for Seventh-day Adventist pastors and their congregations
Covenant at Sinai
“Trust is the glue of life.”
According to Stephen Covey, “It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.”
Child psychoanalyst Erik Erickson adds that the first task that an infant must accomplish is to learn to trust. Without a well-established foundation of trust, the child cannot successfully master the succeeding stages of development.
As children learn to depend on their parents or caregivers for their basic needs, they develop a sense of confidence that their world is safe and consistent. Without that trustworthy care, their world becomes a place of fear and anxiety. In this imperfect world, however, children will have experiences that foster both trust and mistrust. If they have reliable caregivers, they can learn to navigate stressful circumstances because they know that trustworthy adults are there for them.
One way that children learn to trust is when the adults in their lives keep their promises to them. In her post “5 Reasons for Keeping Promises to Your Children,” blogger Dana Hall McCain shares this observation: “Kids have amazing–if selective–memories. For instance, my children might not be able to remember to put on actual shoes before getting in the car to run errands with Mom, but if I promise on Tuesday that we’ll get ice cream after school on Friday, you can bet it will be the first thing out of their mouths when they hop in the car Friday afternoon.”
She then shares reason #1 for keeping your promises: “Keeping promises teaches your kids they can trust you. We want our children to take us at our word about all sorts of important things: faith, values, relationships, etc. If they can’t trust us in the little things, how can they trust us in the big things? Following through on the day-to-day promises teaches that when mom says it, you can bank on it.”
In many ways, the newly-freed (reborn) Israelites were like infants. Unfortunately, due to the abuse at the hands of their Egyptian taskmasters, they never fully established that essential trust foundation. How could they ever learn to trust any authority figure, be it Moses, or God?
In the Sinai Covenant, God continued a series of trust-building lessons these children needed to learn to shore up their faith foundation and move on to the promised land. God began the lessons by preserving them through the plagues, bringing them through the Red Sea, and providing manna and water at just the right time. Now it was time to ratify the contract between God and the Israelites, and God designed this covenant to help them build that foundation of trust.
The Decalogue begins with this promise: “I am the Lord your God.” God had already amply demonstrated that they (and we) need nothing else. The fact that God is our God implies that we have a trustworthy caregiver who will caringly provide for all of our necessities of life. Paul reaffirms that fact when he says in Philippians 4:19, “And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
We can view the Ten Commandments two different ways. We can see them as legal requirements: “Because I’m your God, you must do these things.” Or we can see them as hopeful promises: “Because I’m your God, you will do these things.” Ellen White prefers the latter: “The ten commandments, Thou shalt, and Thou shalt not, are ten promises.” (The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 1, p. 1105.)
Just as in any contract, the Sinai Covenant includes a response from us. Unlike a standard, human agreement, however, God also makes a provision to cover our part of the contract. When we fall short in living up to our part of the covenant (and we surely will, according to Romans 3:23), we can rejoice that God justifies us freely by the grace and redemption provided by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Romans 3:24)
For Reflection
Connecting: Have you ever co-signed a loan for someone? How did that work out? What are some steps you can take to ensure that this act won’t destroy a vital relationship (or is that even possible)?
Sharing: Since we regularly fail to keep up our end of the Sinai Covenant (Romans 3:23), why should God keep blessing us anyway?
- God can’t help it because—just like infants—we are so loveable
- God always sees reasons for hope in us, even if we can’t see it ourselves
- If God doesn’t save us, then Satan wins
- It’s just God’s nature to bless, anything less is a strange act (Isaiah 28:21)
- God will bless us for a time, but if we don’t respond with some type of spiritual growth, those blessings will eventually come to an end
- Other:
Applying: How do you respond to the charge that, by keeping the commandments, we are legalists?
Valuing: Are you a trusting person by nature? If so, to what do you attribute that? If not, who’s to blame? No matter your answer, it’s good to keep developing your trust in God by regularly recounting your blessings.
~ Chuck Burkeen
The Center for Creative Ministry is fully recognized by the North American Division (NAD) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church; it is also a 501c3 nonprofit organization which makes donations tax deductible in the U.S.
