Live well and prosper sounds like something Dr. Spock would say, right? But Dr. Spock’s exact words were, “live long and prosper.” The Vulcan “salute” was devised by Leonard Nimoy, the actor who portrayed the half Vulcan character Mr. Spock on the original Star Trek television series. A 1968 New York Times interview described the gesture as a “double-fingered version of Churchill’s victory sign”. Nimoy said in that interview that he “decided that the Vulcans were a “hand-oriented” people”.

The greeting first appeared in 1967 on the Star Trek second-season opening episode, “Amok Time”. In his 1975 autobiography I Am Not Spock, Nimoy, who was Jewish, wrote that he based it on the priestly blessing performed by Jewish Kohanim with both hands, thumb to thumb in this same position, representing the Hebrew letter Shin (ש in Square Script, or Paleo Hebrew‎), which has three upward strokes similar to the position of the thumb and fingers in the gesture. The letter Shin here stands for El Shaddai, meaning “Almighty (God)”, as well as for Shekhinah and Shalom. Nimoy wrote that when he was a child, his grandfather took him to an Orthodox synagogue, where he saw the blessing performed and was impressed by it.

So, it began with Almighty God!  All blessings have their beginning with God for God is the Creator of all. All that is created began with God.  Even you and I! So, it stands; whatever God says, we will do, for He knows what is best for us.  If we trust and obey, love and worship our God, our lives will be less stressful and worrisome when obstacles and troubles sidetrack us as we live in an imperfect world marred by sin.  We will “live well (and long) and prosper, when we follow the commands of God who will help us. Our favorite promise of God delivered by the prophet Jeremiah later to God’s people is still true for us today;

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jeremiah 29:11

These words of encouragement were delivered to a troubled people who had not obeyed God.  Jeremiah spoke God’s word over them to remind them that following God’s commands with committed hearts for God would allow them to live well and prosper.

It is the 40th year of the exodus from Egypt. Many Israelites had died since God gave the commandments at Mount Sinai. God held the entire nation responsible for obeying the commandments. God longs for his people to abide by his stipulations, so that all will be well with them and the generations that follow them. It pleases him when his people profess willingness to obey his commandments, but he knows their hearts will lead them to disobey.  It seems that God must reminds us daily to trust and obey for that is the way to live long, live well, and prosper in his love, mercy, and grace—with His love being the greatest gift of all!

Deuteronomy 5

The Ten Commandments

Moses summoned all Israel and said:

Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. ² The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. ³ It was not with our ancestors that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today. ⁴ The Lord spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. ⁵ (At that time I stood between the Lord and you to declare to you the word of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And he said:

⁶ “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

⁷ “You shall have no other gods before me.

⁸ “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁹ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ¹⁰ but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

¹¹ “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

¹² “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. ¹³ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁴ but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. ¹⁵ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

¹⁶ “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

¹⁷ “You shall not murder.

¹⁸ “You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁹ “You shall not steal.

²⁰ “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

²¹ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

²² These are the commandments the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

²³ When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leaders of your tribes and your elders came to me. ²⁴ And you said, “The Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks with them. ²⁵ But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer. ²⁶ For what mortal has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? ²⁷ Go near and listen to all that the Lord our God says. Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We will listen and obey.”

²⁸ The Lord heard you when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, “I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good. ²⁹ Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!

³⁰ “Go, tell them to return to their tents. ³¹ But you stay here with me so that I may give you all the commands, decrees and laws you are to teach them to follow in the land I am giving them to possess.”

³² So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. ³³ Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Jesus spent days on a mountain teaching thousands of people the true intent of God’s Laws centuries later.  Jesus would demonstrate how to obey God’s commandments as he walked the earth.  Jesus then, at the just the right time, demonstrated God’s love for us by willing laying down His life for ours so that our sins would be paid in full, to be remembered no more.

There is no one like our God!  Why trust in anyone or anything else?  I do not know.

If we truly want to give unto God a portion of all He has given to us—trust Him because we love Him.  Obey God’s commands because we love Him. Before leaving earth to ascend back into heaven Jesus told his followers;

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. –Jesus, John 14:15-17, ESV

God knew we would need Help and so He gave us His Holy Spirit to lead us to all Truth.  His Holy Spirit points the way to God’s wisdom, correcting our thinking, while transforming our behaviors. The Holy Spirit lives in all who believe in Jesus.  The Holy Spirit gives us power from God, the SAME power that rose Jesus from death to life, to trust and obey—so we can live well and prosper!  Trust and obey, for there’s no other way….

Lord,

Thank you for saving our souls and making us whole by redeeming us from our sins! Thank you for an intimate relationship with you that enables the power of your Holy Presence to come and dwell within our being, guiding us to truth, and then helping us to obey with power from you!  We don’t deserve all you give to us; but as for me I will be eternally grateful to you! May we live well and prosper today in your love, mercy, and grace so others will know!

In Jesus Name, Amen