Blessings of Obedience

"If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land. I shall also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down with no one making you tremble. I shall also eliminate harmful beasts from the land, and no sword will pass through your land. But you will chase your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword; five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword. So I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm My covenant with you. You will eat the old supply and clear out the old because of the new. Moreover, I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject you. I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would not be their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect." -Leviticus 26.3-13

God tells His people that if they will follow Him, be fully devoted to Him, and live righteously as He has instructed them, then He will bless them. As I read this I thought back to Genesis 28, when Jacob is giving God all of the requirements God needs to meet for Jacob to follow Him (see Ultimatums from March 3,2014). Jacob said that if God would do this, this, this, and this, then Jacob would serve Him faithfully. But who is Jacob to give such ultimatums to God? Who is any man to God how it's going to be? But here we see God talking. Here we see God telling man what must happen, and what God will do if they obediently follow Him.

God promises to send rain so that the crops will grow, and He promises that the crops will come abundantly and last so that they don't have to worry about what they will eat. He promises peace, so that the people can live without paranoia, always looking over their shoulders and sleeping with one eye open. He promises that war shall not come to their land, and that harmful animals will be removed as well, so that their families and flocks may live in safety. God promises victory, few will overcome many, and the enemies will flee before them.

God promises to make them a great nation, and to fulfill His covenant with them. They will multiply and enjoy the promises made to Abraham. God promises His presence and acceptance of them. He will be their God. He delivered them from slavery so that they might enjoy fellowship together. God greatly desires for this, but in order for the people to receive it, they must desire it equally greatly. God has done so much more them, offered them so much, that they must respond in trust and righteous living to receive the blessings.

Men, God makes the same promises to us. He promises provision, protection, and peace. He offers us victory and security. He desires to dwell among us and fellowship with us. But in order to receive the blessings from God, we must pursue the God of the blessings.

This isn't a list of "do this in order to get that" rather it is the result that comes from intimate fellowship with God. When we come to new life in Him, when we delight in Him and fellowship with Him, these things are the natural result of that. And when we live apart from God, these things cannot be found. They are the result of a righteous life. The are the blessings of obedience.

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor

Don't Forget God

"Now before the year of famine came,two sons were born to Joseph, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him.   Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, 'For,' he said, 'God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.'. He named the second Ephraim, 'For,' he said, 'God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.'"  -Genesis 41.50-52

Joseph has done well.  He went from prison to the palace; from a slave to second in command of Egypt.  He is now one of the most powerful men in the world.  His plans are being implemented throughout the land, and he's even started a family.  He has a wife who has given him two sons.

As he looks back over the past few years, and at all that he has been able to accomplish, he could have taken the credit for it.  He could have looked at it all with a sense if entitlement, something that was deserved for all that he had been put through.  But this isn't the attitude we find.  There is no smug arrogance, but rather grateful humility.

Joseph names his first son Manasseh, declaring that God has made him forget about what his brothers did to him.  He has set the past aside, and is grateful for the blessings God has given him, not because he deserves them, but because God is good and loves to give good things to His children.

Joseph is blessed with a second son and names him Ephraim.  He announces that God has blessed him in the land where he was a slave and a prisoner.  God brought him through the hard times, and was with him.  Now God has blessed him beyond the suffering and affliction.

Men, when we make it and become successful do we forget about God?  How many turn to God at the low points, but as soon as things turn around look at Him and say, "I've got things from here"?  They never thank God for His provision, or His blessings.  God is forgotten.

May this never be true of us.  May we never forget God.  Let us draw near to Him in the low points and trust in Him to provide.  And let us draw nearer to Him on the mountain tops and praise Him for all that He has done.

God can bless you to the point of forgetting your hardships, and He can make you fruitful in the place of your affliction.  When he does, don't forget to thank and praise Him.

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor