God PROMISES to BLESS us IF we OBEY HIM!
February
8 Bible Reading: Leviticus Chapters 25-27
God PROMISES to BLESS us IF we OBEY HIM!
"If
you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I
will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the
trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last till the
time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing; you shall
eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. I will give peace in
the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid; I will rid the
land of evil beasts, and the sword will not go through your land."
(Leviticus 26:3-6)
Leviticus
chapter 26 is a prophetic history regarding Israel’s presence in the Land of Promise.
After a brief introduction based on the first four commandments (26:1–2), God
set forth the conditions for covenant
blessing: “walk in My statutes and keep
My commandments, and perform them” (26:3). The statutes and commandments
were the stipulations of the covenant so God appealed to His people to keep their
part of the covenant, which would
guarantee His favor upon them.
This chapter
is uniquely reserved to pronounce blessings on those Israelites who are
obedient to God (vv. 3-13) and to announce curses on those Israelites who are
disobedient to God (vv. 14-39). God used twice
as much space to issue warnings and curses for disobedience (25 verses) over
the blessings for obedience (10 verses). God used adversity here as a promised
fruit of disobedience, not to inflict revenge upon His people, but to lead His
people to repentance (vv. 40-42). In fact, the chastisement would increase in
severity as we progress through this chapter (vv. 14, 18, 21, 24, 28).
Note that
the blessings of God are conditional
and follows the if-then format. God
promised the following blessings to the Israelites if they would keep His commandments: rain, fertility (v. 4), productivity,
security (v. 5), peace, safety
(v. 6), victory over enemies (vv. 7,
8), fruitfulness, and the God’s presence in
their midst (vv. 9–13). There are three
divisions of blessings (vv. 4, 6, 11) and each is prefaced with “I will give”. They include material prosperity (vv. 3–5), victory over the nation’s enemies (vv.
6–9), the assurance of God’s presence in
the land (vv. 11, 12), and the dignity
of personal freedom (v. 13).
God used the
word ‘covenant’ eight times in this
chapter. It reminded the people of their special relationship with Him and the
responsibilities belonging to that relationship. If they obeyed the terms of
the covenant, they would remain in
the Promised Land and enjoy His blessings. God does not promise material success
to His new covenant people today, but
He does promise to be with us and meet our every need and bless us if we obey
Him. Are we obeying God completely in our
daily lives?
