Thursday, March 13 ~Listening for the Blessings

~~Deuteronomy 7:12-13
If you heed these ordinances, by diligently observing them, the LORD your God will maintain with you the covenant loyalty that he swore to your ancestors, he will love you, bless you, and multiply you; he will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock, in the land that he swore to your ancestors to give you.

~~Moses prepares the Hebrew people to assume the place God has made for them in the land of Canaan.  He’s not preparing them to take over that land as they might have expected; he’s not teaching them conquering strategies or even negotiating strategies.  Rather, Moses is advising his people “simply” to obey the rules God has set before them,  those same 10 rules that Moses brought down from the mountain.

God again promises to His people that if they diligently observe His laws, God will bless them with prosperity, permanence, and comfort.  God offers this promise not because of who they are but because God has chosen to love and bless these children of Abraham.  And God keeps promises.

We, too, all these generations later are God’s chosen ones.  We, too, need to hear God’s call to obedience that we may also hear God’s promise that we will be blessed and be a blessing.  Are you listening?

Prayer:
God speaks to us in all manner of voices, give us hearts to listen and to obey.  Amen.

Marie Smart