As I read Deuteronomy 24-27, I couldn’t help but notice the difference between obedience and disobedience! What is the difference? Obedience brought God’s blessing upon Israel! Disobedience brought them a curse! While chapter 27 ends with a list of curses for sin, notice what Moses says to Israel about the blessing.
“Today the Lord your God has commanded you to obey all these decrees and regulations. So be careful to obey them wholeheartedly. And if you do, he will set you high above all the other nations he has made. Then you will receive praise, honor, and renown. You will be a nation that is holy to the Lord your God, just as he promised.” (Deuteronomy 26:16 & 19, NLT)
Israel gets to choose the outcome! Will they choose blessing or cursing? Will they live in obedience to God and His Word? Will they disobey? The result of either should not be a surprise! As I thought about this, two things came to mind.
First, the way of disobedience is hard! The last forty years of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness was hard. They did not come out ahead for their disobedience. As we continue reading chronologically through the Bible, we will come to the book of the Judges, where this will be proven many times over. More broadly speaking, the whole human race is under a curse because of one man’s (Adam) disobedience in the Garden of Eden! The way of disobedience is hard.
Second, blessing follows obedience, and true obedience results from what? Blessed obedience comes from wholeheartedly loving God!
Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5:3–5, NLT)
And why do we love God? Because He first loved us!
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. (1 John 4:9–10, NLT)
Believer, to be loved by God and to wholeheartedly love Him through our obedience is a blessed life! It is not a burdensome life! It is a life of victory! By the way, what is the greatest commandment we could wholeheartedly obey?
Jesus replied, ” ‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. (Matthew 22:37–38, NLT)
Thank you for joining with me as I read and journal chronologically through the Bible! This devotional reflection comes from Deuteronomy 24:1-27:26.