Q: What is the duty which God requires of man?
A: The duty which God requires of man is obedience to his revealed will.
Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
I really appreciate the verse for this week. It seems that many, many times, we as Christians spend a lot of time pondering the "secret things of God". What does God have in store for my life? What am I "called" to do? Where should I go, what should I be, all these questions that Christians and non-Christians ask constantly. But the plain and simple fact is, we can only answer these questions in light of God's revealed will. And where is his will revealed? It is not revealed in some subjective impression or feeling that we may get. Statements like "I feel like God is telling me..." for example, are not a good guide for living our lives. It is not revealed in some special, secret revelation that God gives you. No, rather, God's revealed will is found in his Word. Deuteronomy 29:29 makes that clear, "but the things that are revealed belong to us...that we may do all the words of this law". God has revealed all we need to know concerning how to live lives in obedience to him, and it is found in his revealed, holy Word.
Now I realize this may seem like a cop-out, or at least it may seem like none of the questions we deem as "the big questions of life" are truly answered here. The Bible doesn't tell you whether or not to take that job offer. It doesn't tell you who to marry. It doesn't tell you where to go to college. But what it does tell you is how to live a life that is obedient to God. It tells you how to glorify and obey God in all walks of life, in all decision making, in all questions of calling and purpose, and this is what should consume our minds. "The secret things belong to the Lord our God". Can we trust God with them? Can we let God be God and trust that he has revealed all that we need to know? Can we trust that "the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law"? This is what God requires of us. He requires obedience to his revealed will. He does not require that we solve or figure out the secret things that belong to him, even as it concerns our own lives. Rather, he requires that we submit to and obey what he has revealed in his holy Word. When we strive to do this, when we strive to obey and submit to what God has revealed in his Word, then and only then are we truly living up to our calling as followers of Christ. Then, and only then, are we living up to the duty which God requires of us.