Deuteronomy 4:44-49, Deuteronomy 5 - 8
Deut. 5:29 - God longs that we would give Him the respect he deserves, for our own good. He is not like us, where we must consider the motives of man behind the desire to lead. No, he knows what we need and what would be best or us. We live contrary to that because of our own pride and lack of fear and respect for God. When we do, it hurts God because he sees His children making a mess where none needed to be. After all, he's given us the way to go. What parent does not want to rush in and save their children from hurt when we can see it coming? That God does not do that for us does not mean he does not want to. Nor does it mean that He is not, like a parent, there to help us pick up the pieces when we screw it up.
Deut 6:4-9 - Put God first, always first.
Deut 8:1-5 - Even though things seemed hard during those 40 years, God was with them and was actually caring for them. Much like a man looking back over his chilhood years and seeing all that discipline and restrictions and now seeing the wisdom in it.
