Fear No Fear

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

“It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments which I command you today, that Yahweh your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you, and overtake you, if you listen to Yahweh your God’s voice. You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field. You shall be blessed in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock. Your basket and your kneading trough shall be blessed. You shall be blessed when you come in, and you shall be blessed when you go out. Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck before you. They will come out against you one way, and will flee before you seven ways. Yahweh will command the blessing on you in your barns, and in all that you put your hand to. He will bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. Yahweh will establish you for a holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and walk in his ways. All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by Yahweh’s name, and they will be afraid of you. Yahweh will grant you abundant prosperity in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give you. Yahweh will open to you his good treasure in the sky, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You will lend to many nations, and you will not borrow. Yahweh will make you the head, and not the tail. You will be above only, and you will not be beneath, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you today, to observe and to do, and shall not turn away from any of the words which I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.”
(Deuteronomy 28:1-14)

“Misfortune pursues sinners,
    but prosperity rewards the righteous.
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,
    but the wealth of the sinner is stored for the righteous.
An abundance of food is in poor people’s fields,
    but injustice sweeps it away.”
(Proverbs 13:21-23)

You do NOT need darkness to understand light. You do NOT need sickness to appreciate health. The negatives are simply the LACK of the positives. If you understand and have the positives, you know that ANYTHING ELSE is negative. The Mosaic Covenant was simple. God exhorted His people to adhere to what He said was right and good. ANYTHING ELSE was NOT right and NOT good. When they aligned with Him and obeyed, they got BLESSED. When they did ANYTHING ELSE, they were at the mercy of the CURSE – which the BLESSING protected them from. This was BLACK and WHITE. A dichotomy. You either were protected by the BLESSING or you were at the mercy of the CURSE. There was NO middle ground. Until Jesus came and paid the price for Sin, there was no authority to cast off the curse.  You could ONLY shelter in the BLESSING: ‘fruit of the body’ (health and offspring), ‘fruit of the land’ (food, sustainability, and provision of needs), and ‘fruit of the livestock’ (increasing flock and herds).

Those who were wise obeyed. Those who were foolish did not. The wise were protected. The foolish were hounded by lack. When Jesus came He paid the price for Sin. Those who accept Him and His payment, are wise and protected. Those who refuse to accept Him and His payment, are foolish and remain at the mercy of lack – now and in the future. Only in Jesus is there life. Only in Jesus do we get to switch trains from the one going to destruction to the one going to life. The only inheritance to be had resides in Jesus’ saving Grace. He is offering it to all of us, but we all need to choose whether or not to accept it.

Summary

God did not create us to be performing monkeys, but choosing children. It lies with US. WE get to choose. We MUST choose. Even the attempt to not choose is a choice. We can humbly submit and obey or we can be selfish and disobey. There is NO middle ground. If we want the good things of the Lord, we need to learn about His good character, His good will, and submit to what we find in the Word. This is THE way. This is LIFE. This is the choice (John 3:16-18).