3-23-15- Blessing for Obedience

1These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. (Deuteronomy 6:1-3)

Thoughts: The context of these verses- are the second (Deutero) sermon of Moses.  He has just listed the Ten Commandments and is about to list the great Shema ("Hear O Israel the Lord your God the Lord is One...").     So these are very important verses.  Basically,the message is also to hear.  God was bringing them an answer to their dream- a land of their own.  But He would do so, only if they kept His commands.  When the Israelites refused to keep the commands of the Sabbath and sole worship of the Lord- he brought judgment on them in the time of the judges; shrunk their territory in the time of the latter kings; took them into exile for 70 years to Babylon, and after rejecting the Messiah took them into exile for over 1870 years.  These are words of promise and hope- but also words of warning- to keep the commands of God, and not to eliminate them lightly.  Today, we rationalize, excuse, and eliminate the commands of God too lightly.  If we say God is our Lord, then we need to listen to His commands and ways.
    To obey God is better than disobeying Him and then trying to find forgiveness (to obey is better than sacrifice).  Grace helps us obey.  But we can abuse God's grace by purposefully disobeying God.  We can rationalize and excuse away our disobedience to what God has clearly said.  We can fool ourselves that God did not know better when He gave the Word of the Old and New Testaments. But Gods truth endures forever.  The grass withers the flowers fade but the Word of the Lord endures forever.   God favors and blesses those who listen to Him- but He also disfavors and shows displeasure to those who disobey.  

Prayer: Lord, give me listening ears that I might walk in accordance with your ways.