Upon briefly reading through the Ten Commandments, we may overlook the significance of the tenth and final commandment after the previous instructions on topics such as murder, theft, adultery, bearing false witness, and idolatry. Yet, with great wisdom and purpose, God instructs His people not to covet. The word “Khamad” is the original Hebrew word that is defined as “desire.” The commandments prior to number ten speak to an action/actions or a behavior. Coveting addresses the desires of our hearts. Desire isn’t the enemy. The enemy is the enemy. Yet, trouble comes when we attach desire to someone or something that is not God.
A few years ago, we had a water leak in our house. The leak went unnoticed for A COUPLE OF YEARS because the water was leaking (very, very slowly) underneath several layers of updated flooring. In fact, the only reason we noticed the leak was that it was finally exposed through the top and final layer of laminate flooring. Throughout the Ten Commandments, in His kindness, God draws our intentions to the water that flows on the surface of the flooring of our hearts. Here, God teaches us about the danger and deception of covetousness, like water slowly spreading underneath the flooring in my home. Left unchecked, coveting can create internal damage that eventually leads to external destruction.
First John 5:21 states, “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.” Coveting is more than wanting what someone else has; it is allowing something or someone other than God to occupy the place that belongs to Him alone.
Today, Lord, would you give me the courage and willingness to see where coveting desires have settled into my heart? Help me to surrender any desire that takes the place of you in my heart. May we remember your first words in Exodus 20: 2-3 “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. “You must not have any other god but me.”