ESOCS Devotional 3 August 2026 – Be Honest in Teaching
MEMORY VERSE: Deut. 4:14“And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgements that ye might do them in the land whether ye go over to possess it.” (KJV).
TEXT: Deuteronomy 4:4-24
4 But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.
5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.
6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?
8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;
10 Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.
11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.
12 And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.
13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.
14 And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.
15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17 The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
18 The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:
19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.
20 But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.
21 Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance:
22 But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.
23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee.
24 For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
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A honest teacher is one who reveals the truth of the subject even if it exposes his own fault. He does not hide the truth of the message. He gives it raw. Moses was such a teacher and all of us who venture to teach from the scripture must be sincere. The God we serve is described in verse 24 of our text as a “….. consuming fire, even a jealous God.” He respects nobody but enjoins us to be obedient to Him.
Israel left Egypt in obedience to the command of God. But on the way despite several mighty works and miracles God showed them, some of them bluntly disobeyed God and his servant Moses. Those who were disobedient died untimely while those who clave unto the LORD remained alive to see the land of promise (Deut. 4:4, 21, 22). Even Moses was not spared.
Parents and anointed members fall within the categories of teachers. Parents who grow old are expected to take up the responsibility of making the younger generation of the children of their own children learn of the word of God and their own experience with God. In Deuteronomy Moses took up the task to recount the law to a younger generation before he should die and before Israel crosses the Jordan to Canaan. (verses 20-23).
A sincere teacher does not hide his own fault or pretend about it. He exposes it to the learners. This has a way of forcing better behaviour on the learners. Let us therefore be sincere both in teaching and learning in a bid to obey the proper words of God exposed in the scriptures.
Question:
What do you do in teaching when you meet a point that exposes your fault?
Prayer:
Father, please give me a humble and sincere spirit in teaching if the gospel message. inJesus Name, Amen.
Further Reading: Ezek 32:17-end, John 17:19-end, Philemon 1:6-18
ESOCS Devotional 3 August 2026
