Christians have the greatest privilege of receiving the blessings of God. We are the only people in the world who have access to the treasuries of heaven. How blessed is that?
The blessings; however, are conditional. But the good news is that the conditions are not heavy and burdensome.
"If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord you God will set you high above all the nations of the world. You will experience all those blessings if you obey the Lord you God." Deuteronomy 28:1-2
The first word to take note from this passage is 'today.' When the Bible says to obey the commands that are given today, it doesn't mean that you must take the entire Bible and do everything that it says all at once. What it means is, obey what you are commanded to do at this moment in time.
If you have an enemy for example, the Bible says, "Love your enemies." If that's the only thing that God wants you to do today, then that's what you should do. This is what carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today mean. Just do what you're told to do right now.
The Lord's commands are step by step. He doesn't rush us into doing everything because He knows that we are not able to multitask all of these commands. But what we are able to do, that, He expects us to do.
And when we follow, these blessings are promised to us:
Your towns and your fields will be blessed.
Your children and your crops will be blessed.
The offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed.
Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be blessed.
Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed.
Deuteronomy 28:3-6
Furthermore, as we obey the voice of the Lord, He promises us protection as the Lord will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven (verse 7).
If we follow His lead, we are sure to blessed in everything that we do. We can never go wrong when the Lord is taking the lead (verse 8).
If you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways, the Lord will establish you as his holy people as he swore he would do. Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the Lord, and they will stand in awe of you. Deuteronomy 28:9-10
God's children are meant to stand out. You are the light of the world, another passage says. And only through our obedience will that happen. God will make sure that everyone knows that we belong to Him. He will bless us in a way that only He can do, and people will be left in amazement.
The Lord is a God of glory; and we are vessels through which His glory is manifested to the world.
The Lord will give you prosperity in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, blessing you with many children, numerous livestock, and abundant crops. The Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work that you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. Deuteronomy 28:11-12
The promises include freedom from poverty. How? The Lord will help us with our businesses and He will be the one to guide us to become successful and all we have to do is to listen and respond.
Obedience is not difficult once we let go of our will. Sometimes we think too much, calculating everything. But God also promises us rest, and rest comes from obedience in doing what He commands us to do for the day.
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. Deuteronomy 28:13-14
The last line is a word of caution. There is a tendency for the blessing to become the object of one's affections rather than the Blesser. So we must take heed. Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you.
*All scriptures quotes are from the New Living Translation Bible.
