Why does God give rules?
A while ago, I talked to someone who thought it was really dumb that God made all these rules. “That’s totally unnecessary, right? Those rules just get in the way—how is that real freedom?”
To answer that, we first took a look at some of the laws we all know—the well-known Ten Commandments:
You shall not murder. (Deuteronomy 5:17)
You shall not steal. (Deuteronomy 5:19)
Those rules make sense, right? And yet, God created them… If we look deeper into the “why,” we see in that same chapter the explanation of why God made these rules. That chapter contains the Ten Commandments, which God gave to the Israelites through Moses. It also gives us insight into God’s motives.
- To protect the relationship between God and His people – In Deuteronomy 5:6-7, God reminds the Israelites that He brought them out of slavery in Egypt and that they should worship Him alone. The first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me,” is meant to safeguard the unique and exclusive relationship between God and His people.
- To guide the people in the right way of life – In verses 32-33, God says that the Israelites must follow His commandments and walk in the way He has set for them. The rules serve as a guide for living a righteous and holy life.
- To ensure the well-being of the people – In verse 29, God says, “If only they had such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it would go well for them and for their sons forever!” These rules were given for the good of the people, so they could live prosperously and in peace.
So, God made these rules to protect His people, lead them into a righteous life, and give them a good future. They weren’t meant to be a burden but rather a sign of His care for their well-being and His desire for a deeper, loving relationship with them.
If we dig even deeper, we see that God would have preferred if people had already done these things from their own hearts…
Oh, that they had such a heart, to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it would go well with them and with their sons forever! (Deuteronomy 5:29)
But no… humanity couldn’t do that from their own hearts. They weren’t strong enough for that, and notice: they didn’t even want to speak directly with God. Instead, they wanted Moses to be the mediator, to write down for them what God wanted:
Now why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord, our God, any longer, then we will die. For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? Go near and hear all that the Lord our God says; then speak to us all that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will hear it and do it. (Deuteronomy 5:25-27)
In other words, the people were afraid of God, and they knew VERY well that they weren’t living right… So, God had it written down, because they asked for it, as a tool, so that it would go well with them and their children forever.
God could have said, “Figure it out yourselves, your heart is strong enough to understand, so good luck with that.” But no. God knew exactly who we are as people… and so He gave us tools to follow, so that (repetition) “it would go well with them and their children forever.”
So, all those rules… they exist because our own hearts (how we truly think and are deep down) are no longer pure and good after the fall (Adam, Eve, the serpent, the “apple”), and we ourselves asked God to give us those rules. The verse in Jeremiah 17:9 clearly explains what our own hearts are really like:
The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
So, all those rules weren’t made to mess with you or me, but to protect us, because we asked for them. Not just from ourselves or each other (which is much needed—just look at today’s news and what we do to each other as humanity), but also from God’s anger when He sees what we do as people. (Murdering, stealing, lying, deceiving, and so on). God doesn’t want to be angry at you, He doesn’t want us to harm each other, so He gives us rules to prevent Him from getting angry over what we do to Him and each other. God wants us to be very close to Him, where there is no sin, no pain, and no sorrow.
And maybe you don’t understand all those rules He’s given us. That’s okay, sometimes I don’t get them either. Why do we need A, B, or C? But I trust that God knows better than my heart, and in that trust, knowing that God has the best intentions for me, I follow the rules I don’t get or the ones I think, “Well, we don’t really need that anymore, do we?” No, if God says A, do A. In full trust of His goodness, and recognizing that my own heart is pretty messed up when I look at it honestly, I do what He says. Even when I don’t (want to) understand it…
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
