Deuteronomy 7:12-16

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Deuteronomy 7:12-16

12 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; 13he 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. 14You shall be the most blessed of peoples, with neither sterility nor barrenness among you or your livestock. 15The LORD will turn away from you every illness; all the dread diseases of Egypt that you experienced, he will not inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. 16You shall devour all the peoples that the LORD your God is giving over to you, showing them no pity; you shall not serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.

Think

So if I do what the Lord commands then I will be blessed.  Great. 
I'm trying.  I know lots of people who are trying.  I know plenty of people who are working 2-3-4 jobs to make the rent, to pay the  bills, to cover their weekly expenses.  You Lord made them fruitful and they multiplied but their grain, and wine and oil have not increased.    Are you going to tell me that they are faithless and you are punishing them?  I don't believe that.  I don't believe that, I don't want to believe that.  But I've heard that the faithful are those who succeed.  I grew up in New England and that "Protestant" work ethic was drilled into me at an early age, not by a strict schoolmarm but by a community which clearly believed that you should pull yourselves up by your own boot straps. 
Funny we don't wear boots with straps any more but we still use that phrase.  I digress.

If you head 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...

We are people of law and ordinances.  We believe that if you follow the law you will be rewarded and if you break the law you will be punished.   Deep down inside I am sure most of you out there reading this understand how it feels when you do everything to the best of your ability, color with in the lines and follow the rules and still don't seem to get rewarded.  I know that I have felt and more and more often do feel this way because society tells us the harder you work the more you should get paid.  But the question of what is work and what constitutes hard work is difficult to deal with and it is certainly the state of the world today.  President Obama even talked about it in the State of the Union this week.  Women aren't paid equally to men for the same job, with the same qualifications, experience and time off.  And you can't tell me that a person who does hard labor works less than an office executive.  If you can loose your life walking into your job you should get paid more than someone sitting in an office.  Obviously I am rambling here, and I've lost track of the thought that I was hoping to make...

Oh wait, I remember- lucky for us God doesn't work on a pay as you go system.  Lucky for you and me he already fulfilled all the laws and obligations and duties that are outlined in Deuteronomy.  I don't like to look at the Old Testament and say - well we don't have to worry about this any more like some traditions have attempted to do.  I do think that the laws, the prophets and the journeys of the Israelites provide important and valuable experiences to learn from and a love of God which we need to emulate.  And we should follow the law of the LORD in all that we undertake but fortunately for us that law has been summarized as Loving the LORD with all our heart and mind and Loving our neighbor as ourselves.  It doesn't have those same guaranteed benefits in this world, those who are rich are not necessarily righteous.  Those who are poor are not necessarily unrighteous.  Our worth is not tied to our worthiness. 

Pray

O God, ruler of the universe, remind us to not tie our worthiness into our wealth.  Help us to keep from judging the haves differently from the have-nots.  Teach us to follow your law in our heart and in our lives.  Lead us to your path of righteousness.  Because we fulfill your law, not by our own will or our ability to do anything at all, but by your infinite grace and eternal love.   Through your Son who died upon the cross to fulfill the Law, and the Holy Spirit who inspired the words of the prophets we ask you to forgive us and strengthen us all the days of our lives.  Amen

Contemplate

I will sit in silence until I can't sit any more (there is some work to be done on the house and they can be here in 5 minutes or 2 hours and 15 minutes so I will take this time to be with God and reflect on what it means to obey his law).