If everything that God offers us in Deuteronomy chapter 28 is available to us, then what is the key to receiving all the blessings he has promised?
We need to focus on the little two-letter word: "If."
To underscore just how important obedience is to receiving the blessings of God, I want to paraphrase 1 Samuel 15 for you:
One day the prophet Samuel came to King Saul and said: "The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people.... Now therefore heed the word of the Lord."
Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, "I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel and how he laid wait for him.... Go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and do not spare them. Kill both men, women, ox, sheep, camel, and ass."
So Saul gathered the people together and they came to the city of Amalek, and he attacked and destroyed that army. But Saul spared the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings and the lambs and was unwilling to utterly destroy them.
Right then Saul made a choice to willfully disobey God.
Now the Word of the Lord came to Samuel. And God said, "I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments." And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night long.
So Samuel went to Saul. And when Saul saw Samuel, he said, "Well, blessed be the Lord for I have obeyed the commandments of God."
But at that very moment a noise was heard. It was the bleating of sheep and the lowing of the ox.
Samuel said to Saul, "If you obeyed God, then what was that I hear?"
Saul tried to defend himself, but Samuel said, "Because you have rejected the Word of the Lord, He also has rejected you as king."
How important is obedience? Without obedience we can never experience the blessings of Deuteronomy 28 in our lives. The windows of heaven are shut down because we walk in willful disobedience.
God has given us clear direction on the principal of obedience in Malachi 3:8-11.
Copyright © 2003 Dwight Thompson Ministries
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
We need to focus on the little two-letter word: "If."
If thou shall hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them….Jesus said, "If you love me you will keep my commandments." Another place it says, "You cannot say you love me and not do the things that I say." God says if you love me you will obey. So, yes, obedience is the answer.
(Deut. 28:1)
To underscore just how important obedience is to receiving the blessings of God, I want to paraphrase 1 Samuel 15 for you:
One day the prophet Samuel came to King Saul and said: "The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people.... Now therefore heed the word of the Lord."
Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, "I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel and how he laid wait for him.... Go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and do not spare them. Kill both men, women, ox, sheep, camel, and ass."
So Saul gathered the people together and they came to the city of Amalek, and he attacked and destroyed that army. But Saul spared the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings and the lambs and was unwilling to utterly destroy them.
Right then Saul made a choice to willfully disobey God.
Now the Word of the Lord came to Samuel. And God said, "I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments." And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night long.
So Samuel went to Saul. And when Saul saw Samuel, he said, "Well, blessed be the Lord for I have obeyed the commandments of God."
But at that very moment a noise was heard. It was the bleating of sheep and the lowing of the ox.
Samuel said to Saul, "If you obeyed God, then what was that I hear?"
Saul tried to defend himself, but Samuel said, "Because you have rejected the Word of the Lord, He also has rejected you as king."
How important is obedience? Without obedience we can never experience the blessings of Deuteronomy 28 in our lives. The windows of heaven are shut down because we walk in willful disobedience.
God has given us clear direction on the principal of obedience in Malachi 3:8-11.
Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.This is what brings in the blessing.
You are cursed with a curse: for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithe into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house....
(Mal. 3:8-11)
All rights reserved. Used by permission.