Promise 49 from Exodus 20:2-3

Ex. 20:2-3 - "'I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.'" - God is declaring once again who He is and what He has done for His people; He brought them out of slavery and into freedom. As I've read the 10 commandments many times, I've always thought of them as just that, "commandments" or laws., which it is the law of God, however something different stands out to me this time. God does not say here, "Do not have other gods before Me" but He is saying, "You shall not have..." There is a huge difference between those two phrases. To say "do not" do something, implies the person has a choice, to obey or not, but the preference is made clear for the receiver to be obedient. To say "You shall not..." is a declaration of what shall be. God is speaking over His people, "Because I am your God and because you are now free, you shall not have any other gods before Me." You see, God is describing what it means too be free; When we are free in Christ, when we are no longer slaves to this world or even to ourselves, all that took the place of God in our lives is wiped away and we are left in our righteous standing before Him, the one true God, the one who freed us out of His love and compassion for us. He is speaking over us "You no longer need other gods, other masters, because I've come to rescue you, you shall have no other gods before Me, you are free!"