God's First Word Was a Name — Exodus 20 Devotional
God opened with a name, not a list. "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out." The commands came second, spoken to people already freed. What changes when we learn to read the letter in the order it was written?
Which Letter Did You Imagine?
Picture two letters arriving on the same day. The first opens with a list: here is what you must do, here is where you have fallen short, here is the standard to meet. The second opens differently. It begins, "You are mine. I have already come for you." Most of us, somewhere deep down, assume God is sending the first letter. We read our own inner monologue as a running tally of failures, certain that the verdict is disappointment.
But the people gathered at Sinai received something stranger than either. Before God says a single "you shall not," God says "I am." And what God says about that identity changes everything about the words that follow. This passage invites us to hear the commandments in the order they were actually spoken.
Take a moment to read Exodus 20:1-21. Read it on Bible Gateway if you'd like.