Wednesday

Why Obey God? (Deuteronomy 28)

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you knew what God wanted you to do, but it was hard to obey?  Maybe your heart longed for something else or everyone around you acted in a way you knew was contrary to God’s standards.

Obeying God is relatively simple, yet can be extremely difficult.  It is relatively simple to know God’s standards, but it is often extremely difficult to make the right decisions and hold fast to His guidelines day after day.  This is especially true when the world around us lives according to a totally different standard of right and wrong.

So why should we obey God and His ways?

The book of Deuteronomy outlines many of  God’s laws for the Israelites.  Rule after rule and standard after standard are listed throughout the book.  Then in chapter 28 we are reminded that there are blessings for obedience and consequences for disobedience.

If the Israelites obeyed the Lord they were promised the following blessings:
1.      God would set them high above all the nations of the earth (verse 1)
2.      God would bless them (verse 3)
3.      God would bless their children, crops, and animals would be blessed (verse 4)
4.      As they prepared their food, God would blessed them (verse 5)
5.      Wherever they went, God would bless them (verse 6)
6.      God will defeat their enemies (verse 7)
7.      God would bless their land and crops (verse 8)

We do not obey God just to get blessing from Him.  He is worthy of our obedience.  In response to His unfailing love to us, we should love Him and seek to live in a way that honors Him. 

Yet this passage does remind us that we will be rewarded for our obedience.  Like the Israelites, we can anticipate God’s blessings that come through obedience.  This doesn’t mean there will be only blessings and no trials in our life, but it remind us that God honors those who obey Him.  He will even use trials to perfect us (James 1:2-4) and work all for our good (Romans 8:28).

Consider today the blessings that come through obedience.  Maybe this will help us all honor Jesus Christ and obey Him this hour, this day, this month.

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