Tag: blessings

If and Then

2 Chronicles 5-7

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Friday, November 25

Sitting by my nephew tonight during our Thanksgiving meal I witnessed a typical ‘If and Then’ moment. “If you finish your turkey, then you can have dessert.” It’s a generally easy concept to understand and often times harder to live. Do you recall “If you eat of the tree, then you will surely die?”

These chapters in Chronicles hold many if and then scenarios. The Temple is built and praise is lavished upon God and Solomon alike. God offers that if the people who are called by his name keep their covenants then he will bless them. If the people reject him and break covenant with Him, then he will turn away from blessing them.

In the beginning God walked with His son. His creation. His love. God was not interested in Kings and Temples. What He desired was a one on one relationship with individuals. God relented and gave Israel a King. God allowed the Temple to be built, but it was not His plan, but David’s.

In Chapter 6:20 Solomon instructs the people to pray toward the Temple. God is being put into a box where He can be contained in the mind of Solomon and as a result the people of Israel. Solomon was creating a divide between men and his creator. God always lets us know He is longing for intimate contact and consistently seeks ways to bring us back into a relationship that centers on looking toward Him.

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication over the temple is worth the read. There is more ‘if’ and ‘then’ bargaining going on. Most end with if (when) you sin, then turn again to God and repent. He wasn’t referring to a turning toward the Temple where he surmised God would dwell, but turn toward God’s goodness and mercy and see His rightness against any sin or ‘wrongness’.

God specifically told David He did not need or want a house built, that His preference was to walk with the people as they traveled about. God inhabited the praises of His people as they worshiped at the Temple, but the Temple was more about Israel’s need to have a place to point toward than a place where God wanted to dwell. God replies to Solomon’s prayer of dedication over the Temple with a response of His own. After many ‘if’ statements regarding specific behaviors and consequences God ends with a popular verse all of us have heard.

II Chronicles 7:14~ If My people who are called by My name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face,  and turn from their wicked ways; Then will I hear FROM HEAVEN , and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

The if and then list that finishes out the chapter describes in detail the consequences of following after other gods and building idols for them to dwell among them. God wants to walk with us daily, just as He did in the beginning of time with Adam and Eve. Anything that prevents taking that daily walk or trying to box God into a safe space to visit occasionally is simply an idol and false worship.

‘If’ and ‘then’ is still at work in our lives today. If you call upon His name, then He will hear and begin the healing that needs to take place. God is still looking for a place to live. Make room in your life today.

-Glennis Walters

 

The Choice is Yours (Deuteronomy 30 & 31)

 

Wednesday, September 21

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By Jill McClain

“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.  Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.  For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”  Deuteronomy 30:19-20

We have been given a simple choice.  Do we choose blessings and life or curses and death?  There are no other alternatives.  It seems like the choice should be an easy one, set up with a clear best answer.  And yet so often we lose our way, and make the wrong choice.  We may suggest that obedience is just too hard or that we cannot know how to obey because we do not understand what is expected of us.  However, that is certainly not the case.  God’s laws are clearly given to us in the Bible.  “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach…No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” (Deuteronomy 30:11 & 14)  God does not force us to act in accordance with his commands, because he wants us to freely choose to love and obey him.  He wants us to have a relationship with him that will in turn lead to a desire to please him.  In verse 16 we are commanded to not only obey, but also to love our Heavenly Father. “For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws.” (Deuteronomy 30:6) We offer our obedience to God, as an act of love.

The choice is yours to make.  Will you choose blessings and life or curses and death? It is a choice that everyone must make for themselves.  Furthermore, it is the most important choice you will ever make, with life or death consequences.  The good news is, if you have made the wrong choice in the past, God is abounding in mercy.  It is not too late, to start over and make the correct choice. What about you?  Have you chose blessings and life or curses and death?

Consequences (Deuteronomy 28 & 29)

Tuesday, September 20

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By Jill McClain

Moses had previously told the people all of God’s directions and commands.  He gave them very detailed instructions about what type of behavior God expects.  Next Moses lays out the consequences for either following or disobeying God’s rules.  God has created all humans with a free will.  We are free to walk in his ways or to defy his directions.  However, there are definite consequences for the choices we make.  Chapter 28 first lists a series of blessings that the people will receive if they observe God’s decrees.  There are blessings for individuals and the entire nation.  Crops, livestock and children will all flourish, enemies will be defeated, and the people will be granted “abundant prosperity” (verse 11).  Conversely, there is also a list of curses that the people will face if they are disobedient.  Diseases, plagues, famine, and the loss of their land are just some of the curses listed.  Ultimately, God’s people are always free to choose if they will follow in his ways, but there will be consequences for their actions.

Forty years earlier God and his people had made a covenant.  God promised to bless the Israelites, and they in turn, vowed to love and obey God.  In Chapter 29, Moses once again urges the people to honor their commitment.  The chapter concludes with verse 29, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”  There are some secrets that God has not revealed to us.  However, he has shared with us all that we need to know to have eternal life. It is up to us to diligently study the Bible and apply all we have learned to our own lives.

 

Blessings or Curses (Numbers 24-26)

September 8

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Photo of Mountains in Israel By Beivushtang at the English language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3485696

By Talon Paul

If you are like me and have read through this entire section, you are probably tired of reading all of the names listed and the counting of individuals for war. This information was very important to the Israelites, but has become “back-burner” information for us today in 21st century America.

Although it is very strenuous to read this section, there is a very important story in chapter 24, which is extended on from chapter 23. Here we see a man named Balaam being commanded by Balak to curse the Israelites who are passing through his land. However, when they get up to a high place to see over all of Israel, Balaam can only cast blessings down on the people, thanks to God. Why is this so important?

While the Israelites were complaining about their lives, going through the motions of everyday life, God was protecting them without them even knowing it. They had no idea that just over the mountain was a man being unable to curse them because God intervened.

The same is true in our lives. When we are in the midst of all the struggles of life and are busy doing everything we need to, God is still protecting us, whether we realize it or not. Although we may not be able to see what He is doing immediately, we know that He has promised to protect His people. God is doing wonders for you right now; do you believe it, even though you can’t see it?

An Amazing Gift (Leviticus 26-27)

Monday, August 29

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By Rebecca Dauksas

I have a family member with a birthday coming up next week. I have already bought and wrapped the gifts.  Of course, the purpose of giving a gift allows us to tell that person that they are special, that they are loved, appreciated, remembered,…

God is definitely a Giver.  After all He showed us His love by giving us His only begotten Son. He gives us so much including life. He offers us so many gifts in the present and in the life to come.

In Leviticus 26 God offered the people His blessings for their obedience.  If they obeyed Him, He would have provided what they needed. He would have given them prosperity and peace. He would have given them victory even when others attacked them.  They would also have received the ultimate gift of His presence. He said to them, “I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.” Leviticus 26:12

Just as blessings and rewards motivate us to do what is right, consequences also motivate us to avoid wrong. God presents a very graphic description of the consequences of rejecting Him to His people. Sadly, this description reads like a history book for the Israelites. Thankfully, God granted the Israelites the gifts of grace and forgiveness after the punishments of their disobedience.  But hold on a minute, we have another gift from God.  He gives us the gift of the text we are studying because we can learn from their example.  We do not want to follow in their footsteps. Yes, the Israelites were taken back and used by God, but many individuals as we have been discovering are missing out on the blessings in the meantime.  They are missing the blessings because they are rejecting the One that wants to bless them.  In this chapter we see so clearly, what happens as a result of rejecting God. And even though we can receive forgiveness for our sin, it is so much better to choose God in the first place. Choosing God results in His blessings!  Sure there will still be all the hardships we go through in this fallen world, but we can lean into our God.  We can rely on His Promise that He will be with us and be our God. That is an amazing gift!