WALKING WITH GOD
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Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for the blessings with which you fill my life and the lives of those I love.
Read DEUTERONOMY 28:1–14
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Blessings for Obedience
28 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:
3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
7 The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.
8 The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
9 The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. 10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you. 11 The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.
12 The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. 13 The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. 14 Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Who is your favorite person to walk or travel with? Why?
Sometimes we make someone a generous promise, demanding nothing in return. God does that too. For example, after the flood, he promised unconditionally never again to curse the ground because of man;1 he promised unconditionally never again to destroy all creatures by a flood.2 However, just like ours, God’s promises sometimes depend on certain requirements being met for their fulfillment. The blessings promised to Israel in today’s reading are of that kind. Four times obedience is mentioned as the condition for their bestowal (vv. 1, 2, 9, 13).
First, let us consider what it means to ‘walk in obedience’ to God (v. 9). When we arrange a walk with a close friend, it is because we enjoy their company and the opportunity to chat and share what is in our hearts. Well, God loves fellowship with us. Walking with him is like holding a two-way conversation by which we hear his voice through his Word and by his Spirit, and speak to him in prayer. The more we get to know him, the more we choose to obey him, not under compulsion but because of love. Israel failed to understand this. Do we fare any better?
Second, note that God’s blessings on Israel were meant to be a testimony to all nations, an example of what happens when a people obediently follows the true and living God (v. 10). That was intended as a means of drawing the nations to God, that they might be blessed too. God had promised this to Abraham, Israel’s forefather, many centuries earlier.3 Ultimately, that blessing took the form of the Messiah’s coming into the world for our salvation. He saved us so that we might draw others to him.
Apply
Cleopas and another disciple walked and talked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus.4 What would you have asked Jesus if you had been there?
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you for inviting me to walk in you, to walk in your ways. Thank you for your presence, your guidance, and for the fellowship I enjoy with you.
1 Gen 8:20, 21 2 Gen 9:11 3 Gen 12:3; 22:18 4 Luke 24
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