God commanded Moses to teach the people to observe His commandments in the land that they were to possess. God’s commandments taught the Hebrews God’s ways of how to observe and follow His ways. God declares that He is one and commands the people to love the Lord with all their heart, with all their soul and with all their strength. God told the people that these commandments were to be upon their hearts and that they were to teach their children these commandments. The people were to talk about these commandments when they sit at home, walk along the road, lie down, and when they arose. God’s people were to bind the commandments on the doorpost of their homes and upon the gates of their homes.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
In Exodus 19, God warned Moses not to let the people approach him at the mountain because they were not ready to commit to God and His ways. The people’s hearts were not fully committed to the relationship God required of them. God showed His mercy to the people by teaching them His ways and showing them how to make a choice to fully commit and serve Him.
God tells us in Jeremiah 17: 9-10 that the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure — who can understand it. God declares that He searches the heart and examines the mind to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.
In the New Testament, Jesus says, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship Me in vain, their teachings are but rules taught by men.” Matthew 15: 8-9
Jesus knew that man needed a new heart in order for man to connected back to God the Father. Man had been disconnected in the very beginning because of one act of disobedience by Adam. As a result, all was lost and man lost his connection to God. When a man is born again, and the power of the Holy Spirit comes in, the heart is disconnected from the soul and reconnected to God.
As a result of reconnecting with God, man’s heart can now commit to God and rest in God no matter what trials and tests we may experience in our lives.