Thought
221
Obey
“If only you fully
obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving
you today.” Deuteronomy 15:5 (NIV1984)
When all these blessings and
curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever
the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, and when
you and your children return to the Lord
your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to
everything I command you today, then the Lord
your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you
again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been
banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord
your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that
belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you
more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. The Lord
your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so
that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. The
Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies
who hate and persecute you. You will again obey the Lord
and follow all his commands I am giving you today. Then the Lord
your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the
fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The
Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous,
just as he delighted in your fathers, f you obey the Lord
your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the
Law and turn to the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Now
what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your
reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into
heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the
sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it
to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth
and in your heart so you may obey it. See, I set before you today life and
prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord
your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then
you will live and increase, and the Lord
your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your
heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow
down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will
certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the
Jordan to enter and possess. This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses
against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.
Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love
the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to
him. For the Lord is your life, and
he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers,
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Deuteronomy 30 (NIV1984)
God
blesses when we are obedient.
We have just nailed one of the very important
studs of Biblical truth into the spiritual building of our lives. Obedience is
so important. This is why the child who cursed his father or mother was to be
stoned under the law, this is why Christ died (in obedience to the Father’s
plan), and this is why we go to Hell without Christ (refusing to acknowledge of
out sin and receive Christ as Savior and Lord).
Pray
about what areas God wants you to be obedient in.
