Why All These Rules?

Deuteronomy 22:8
“When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence.”

When reading through the Book of Deuteronomy, you will find that God established a lot of rules by which He expects His people to live. If one were to listen to the modern-day compromiser’s bemoaning of rules, you would hear them say that God is a legalist. I am always amazed as to how many worldly believers want to criticize a church that upholds the Scriptural standards of holiness established in God’s Word, but they never criticize the God Who established the standards for holiness. It seems to me that there is a double-standard in their criticisms.

In reality, those who criticize “all the rules” are missing out on the purpose of those rules. God’s standards of holiness are not a matter of restrictions from enjoying life; rather, they are the recipe to life’s enjoyment to its fullest. The battlement for the roof in the verse above was not to restrict people on their roof, but it was to protect them from falling off the roof. Let me share with you five reasons God has all these rules.

First, God has all these rules because you belong to Him. When you got saved, you are no longer to live in the world, but you are to come out of the world because you belong to God. The rules of holiness by which God expects His children to live are there to show that you belong to Him.

Second, God has all these rules because He has a right to give you rules by which to live. God doesn’t have to ask you or anyone if it is okay to establish a rule because He is the LORD God. God has every right to establish any standard for holiness because He is God. Just because you don’t like rules doesn’t mean that God was wrong in establishing them.

Third, God has all these rules because He loves you. God’s rules are there to keep you from sin. God knows that His standards for holy living are keeping you from sin’s bondage and punishment. God is not being restrictive when He established His standards for holy living, but He is actually giving the believer freedom from sin’s bondage. God’s establishment of standards of holiness is an act of love and not of restriction that keeps you from having “fun.”

Fourth, God has all these rules for your own protection. God knows that when humans are left to their own determination of right and wrong that they will always end up in sin, as we see in the Book of Judges. God has all these rules to protect you from your own erroneous judgments that will lead you into sin.

Fifth, God has all these rules for your own enjoyment of life. God promises blessings for following His standards of holiness, so His rules are actually there so that you can enjoy life. You can go ahead and live life the way that you want to live it, but you will miss out on God’s blessings for doing right. God’s way of living is where you will find the greatest enjoyment in life. God’s way produces future blessings and not future heartache. Only a God of love would establish these standards for holy living so that you can enjoy years of blessings instead of years of heartache.

My friend, you can look at all of these rules and bemoan them, or you can see them as God’s loving way to protect you and send you in the way of blessings. If I had to choose to listen to God or the critic of the rules, I would trust God because He knows which way is best.

Author: Allen Domelle