Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The "If" Factor

Leviticus 26:3-12 (NLT) 26:3 “If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4 I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. 5 Your threshing season will overlap with the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will overlap with the season of planting grain. You will eat your fill and live securely in your own land. 6 “I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear. I will rid the land of wild animals and keep your enemies out of your land. 7 In fact, you will chase down your enemies and slaughter them with your swords. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand! All your enemies will fall beneath your sword. 9 “I will look favorably upon you, making you fertile and multiplying your people. And I will fulfill my covenant with you. 10 You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for the new harvest! 11 I will live among you, and I will not despise you. 12 I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.

Most people like these verses because they come with promises like victory, surplus, prosperity, etc. These are all wonderful things that God wants to bring our way. His only requirement is found in v.3 with the word “if.” “If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands.” This little word hinges what can be and what won’t be. It is the means to access the blessings of God in our lives. “If” we do the things that God requires - we will be blessed and “if” we don’t we will receive curses instead. I definitely want to be part of the “if” factor of doing what God wants me to do. It is then, and only then that I will receive the blessings of the Lord.

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