DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- SIX "IFS"

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – SIX "IFS"

"If you walk in My statues and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit." (Leviticus 26:3-4)

"But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, I also will do this to you….." (Leviticus 26:14-16a)

"But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with the unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me, and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if their uncircumcised hearts are humble, and they accept their guilt – then I will remember…." (Leviticus 26:40-42)

We are coming to the end of Leviticus, and next week we will be back in the New Testament with Gleanings from the Gospel of Mark. As we finish the Book of Leviticus, there are promises God makes – two good and one not so good.

First, God said that if they obey Him, that He will bless them. Then He makes the promise that if they do not obey Him, that He will bring them heartache and trouble. But then, God says that if they humble themselves and repent, He would remember His covenant with Israel, and would not cast them (vs. 44).

God's promises are always true and He will keep them – both positive promises and negative promises. But He puts the onus on humanity. We have the choice to obey Him, disobey Him, or confess that we have lived contrary to Him.

I want God's blessings. There consequences for disobedience and they are not pretty. Living in God's blessings is a whole lot better than experiencing the consequences. Remember the saying: "It is easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission"?  It may seem pleasant to disobey God and ask for forgiveness later, but it is better to obey God in the first place and not have to ask for forgiveness.

I choose to live in God's positive blessings.

Love, Dad