ESOCS Devotional 11 January 2022
TEXT: LEVITICUS 26:14-20
MEMORY VERSE:
“And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.”Leviticus 26: 18 KJV
All blessings from God to His children were and are still dependent upon obedience to Him. In Deuteronomy 28:1-14, blessing after blessing is intoned, depending on one’s obedience to God. However, in Deuteronomy 28:15-68, curses are listed, which in the event of disobedience, will cancel out the blessings. One should know that blessings were and are still cursed because of sin (Malachi 2:2)
The condition for Israel’s remaining in the Promised Land (and having God’s blessings) was their continued obedience to the will of God. One could not assume God’s blessings when at the same time there is a refusal to be obedient to the will of God. In the context of our Bible passage today, there were conditions on Israel remaining in the land. If they did not keep the will of God, there would first come chastening, then judgments, and finally destruction or severance from the land. Their disobedience would lead them through a series of afflictions: sicknesses, famines, wars and oppression by their enemies, plagues, pestilence, devastation, and finally the terror of their enemies and captivity.
The glowing promises of blessings for obedience are always followed by a catalogue of calamities of the most appalling nature, which will overtake those who willfully disobey the Divine Commandments. If God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31); and if God be against us, who can be for us? Ponder on this. When God sets His face against any people for being disobedient to Him, instead of being victorious, their enemies would be victorious over them: fear would rule them, even as it rules all believers who try to live for God outside of the cross (Rom. 8:15 ; 2 Tim. 1:7).
If God’s desired effect of obedience to His word is not achieved, He promised multiplying His punishment seven times upon those who fail to obey Him. He also promised to break the pride of their power, which means that their trust would ultimately come to rest in their own army instead of God (failure already envisaged). The armies of those who disobey God would be wasted by their enemies, no matter how great they may appear to be. With God on the side of those who obey Him, no nation or group of nations in the world could even think of overrunning them. Without God on the side of a people, as a result of disobedience, the weakest nation could overcome them easily.
Furthermore, disobedience will provoke God to make your Heaven as iron, and your Earth as brass. This invariably connotes Heaven being closed to your prayers “as iron” instead of being open; and the Earth being “as brass” instead of yielding its increase. A disobedient person’s strength shall be spent in vain (wasted effort).
These are just a few of the punishment for disobedience. More and more await defaulters.
- In a sober reflective mood, ask (query) yourself sincerely why you can’t become obedient to God?”
- Earnestly pray God to remove the heart of stone (disobedient heart) from you and replace it with a heart of flesh (obedient heart)
Read Other ESOCS Devotional here
FURTHER READING: Song of Solomon 8:5-7; Matthew 6:24-34; Ephesians 6:10-24
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ESOCS Devotional 11 January 2022
