Discover His heart: He rewards those who obey His commandments
Parents have been using the whole naughty or nice list of Santa’s for a long time to exact obedience and good behavior from their children for a few weeks leading up to Christmas. I haven’t met anyone who was emotionally scarred for life after learning all this good behavior was for an imaginary figure that existed in the minds of conniving parents, but I guess the potential is there.
As a parent, I always believed in rewarding good behavior and punishing disobedience, but many today have a different viewpoint. Some think that punishment is too degrading and that rewarding some children and not others may cause a lack of self-esteem in those unrewarded. The thought of raising a generation of children who do not understand that there are consequences that will follow their actions is frightening to me. Our scripture today leaves no doubt in my mind that God is all over the idea of rewarding obedience and punishing disobedience.
@ Deuteronomy 28
“If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world.” (1) As Israel stood at the gateway of promise into the land of their dreams, God put before them a challenge. Tucked in between many curses that would result from disobedience to God’s law are 14 incredible verses of blessing for the nation of Israel if they would keep His commandments. Rewards and punishments.
Moses went on to declare blessings over towns, fields, children, crops, herds, and flocks. God would conquer their enemies and fill their storehouses with prosperity. They would be powerful and respected among the nations. All this would be theirs if they obeyed God’s commandments. “If you listen to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom. You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving you today, nor follow after other gods and worship them.” (13-14) But isn’t that exactly what the nation of Israel did! They threw away the promise of all these rewards for the worship of other gods. Because of their disobedience, they eventually lost their nation and freedom to Babylon.
The rewards and curses of Deuteronomy 28 are relevant to all lives and nations. I believe we have come dangerously close to throwing away the blessing of the Lord through our worship of other gods. May we learn from the mistakes that Israel made. As New Testament people, even more is at stake. “For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.” (2 Corinthians 5:10) God’s rewards for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and obey His commandments are more numerous than this blog could contain.
Consider Philippians 4:19, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Jesus said, speaking of His followers, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) “When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love…I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” (John 15:10-11) And one day we will experience His reward of eternal life, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Excessive joy, provision, God’s continual love, abundant life and countless other rewards here on earth and then eternal life in Heaven! I don’t know, I just can’t think of any desire or disobedient act that is worth the risk of losing any of it. I want all the rewards that come with my obedience to God’s commandments. God’s nice list, if you will, the list of the redeemed, is the Lamb’s Book of Life, and that’s the list I want to be on!
Moving Forward: I’m looking forward to walking in His blessing and reward today, obeying His commands and listening to His voice.
Tomorrow @ Nehemiah 10-13
Phyllis Benigas 