Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“If you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments, and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall continue until the vintage, and the vintage shall continue until the sowing time. You shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and no one will make you afraid. I will remove evil animals out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will have respect for you, make you fruitful, multiply you, and will establish my covenant with you. You shall eat old supplies long kept, and you shall move out the old because of the new. I will set my tent among you, and my soul won’t abhor you. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you will be my people. I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. I have broken the bars of your yoke, and made you walk upright.”
(Leviticus 26:3-13)

“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Whoever loves the Father also loves the child who is born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is loving God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?“
(1 John 5:1-5)

This is such a simple idea, it’s a wonder that we consistently miss it. God wanted to bless His chosen people. A LOT. All THEY had to do is stay where He COULD bless them. Obedience to what He said. That’s the blessing zone. He enabled them to obey. He made provision for every infraction of the Law. They could come to the tabernacle, later the Temple, and deal with ANYTHING – especially major things BEFORE they got to be major (for example, they could bring a sacrifice for engaging in consistent impure thoughts before choosing to give into those thoughts and rape). Except for the worst infractions, there was often a way of reconciliation (a rapist having to pay the bride price for his victim – even if she wasn’t going to be given as his bride). There was a way to behave, to account for missing it, and to stay in communion with God, who WANTED to bless them. Outside of that zone of obedience was the OPPOSITE of the blessing. They would be at the mercy of the world and the devil. Only by sticking with God in obedience from their hearts could they avoid it. But they COULD avoid it and they WOULD be MIGHTILY blessed when they did.

We are in EXACTLY the same place but with a BETTER covenant. Jesus PAID for all our infractions. We don’t have to make sacrifices any more. We don’t have to give offerings. We ONLY need to repent and accept the price Jesus ALREADY paid. That’s SO MUCH SIMPLER. We’ve been given His Spirit. We’ve been empowered in Jesus. We have Him living with us, writing His Word on our hearts, and engaging with us in a VERY personal way. It is a GREAT place to be. And if we STAY in that place, we too will be BLESSED by the God who LOVES to bless His obedient children.

Summary

We don’t want to reward bad behaviour. When we do, it breeds NOTHING but trouble. You can see where we got the idea: God. If we accept God’s protection, His value system, and learn to emulate His character; we should be obedient. If we are obedient, we’re right there beside Him. Aligned with Him. Ready to accept anything He has for us, instead of turned away while kicking and screaming. God WANTS to bless us. It is His WILL. But the CHOICE is ours. Either we can live like He says and reap the rewards of good living, or we can reject His values, walk into the weeds, and keep out of His yard. It’s OUR choice.