For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
— Hebrews 8:10
BECAUSE HE DESIRED a relationship with His people, God established a covenant with the children of Israel. It was a wonderful, rich covenant—and it failed. God kept His part of the bargain, but man did not keep his. So it became necessary for God to establish a new covenant, which He brought through His Son.
GOD GIVES US A NEW COVENANT—A WILL THAT DESIRES TO PLEASE HIM, TO SERVE HIM, AND TO OBEY HIM.
At the Last Supper with His disciples there in the upper room, Jesus “took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying: ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying: ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you’” (Luke 22:19-20).
The rules of this new covenant, given in that upper room, are not written externally on tables of stone; they are written in our heart.
What a blessed covenant, what a magnificent truth: God writes His laws on our hearts and then motivates and empowers us to keep them. How great is our God!
Father, keep us completely dependent upon You for the strength and the desire to obey Your laws. We thank You that the covenant between us is not dependent upon us, but upon You. We love You, Lord.
Amen.