Conditional promises. Many of the promises found in God's Word are unconditional. The Lord has spoken them and their fulfillment rests completely with Him. Absolutely nothing we do or don't do will impact the outcome or restrict their result. They are as good as done. However, there are other times when God places requirements on us.
The word "then" is a huge indicator of a conditional promise. "Then" speaks of an order in time. There is something that comes before the next action being described. We see the Psalmist calling on the people to first praise and obey. God rewards a thankful heart and an obedient life.
The verses that follow in Psalm 50 help define this even more. Beginning with a question, "What right have you to declare My statutes, or take My covenant in your mouth, seeing you hate instruction and cast My words behind you?" God continues in His rebuke, "While you did all this, I remained silent, and you thought I didn't care." (Psalm 50:16b-17, 21a)
It's very clear that how we respond to God and His word matters. It has tremendous impact on coming to Him, hearing from Him and being rescued by Him. If we are personalizing promises from His word we also need to be living by His laws. We will not see the outcome God promises without the obedience. We can't enjoy the privilege of the promise aside from implementing His instruction.
We love to search the scriptures for a verse that declares God's goodness to His children in a situation. We copy it out on index cards. We write it in journals. We post it on social media. We memorize it. We declare it as ours. God's word is filled with precious promises, but we need to be cautious. Are we claiming truths, desiring to have our cake and eat it too, without considering the cost?
While justifying actions and lifestyle decisions that God does not condone, we still desire Him to bless our endeavors and fulfill His Word. We need to stop and ask ourselves, is God being silent because I am not walking in His truth in all things? Is my life pleasing to Him or to me? Do my thoughts, behaviours, activities, conversations, movie choices, friendships etc... reflect Christ's choices? Am I living a surrendered life of thankful sacrifice? Is my goal to please the Lord in everything? Am I spending daily time in His Word and in prayer? Am I confessing sin and abiding in Him? Is my life producing fruit with an ever-increasing harvest or am I more like the fig tree described in Mark 11 with just the appearance of fruitfulness? Am I obediently waiting on Him, listening for His voice and walking in His way?
God is asking us to search our hearts. I don't want anything standing between my believing and God's fulfilling. What about you?
4 comments:
As I have been pondering John 10:10, I have been asking myself what is or who is stealing, killing and destroying abundant life?
🌺From Robyn. Joy, these words are just what we need as his people. Too often believers think that any kind of obedience to God’s laws is somehow an attempt for salvation through works. But nearly every letter to the church in the New Testament exhorts us toward righteousness, and is specific in declaring what is harmful versus life-giving. Jesus said, if you love me, you will obey me. But, like spoiled children, we often refuse to have regret, or confess any sin and focus only on the goodness promised by our Father. This often looks a lot like “Positive thinking”. Paul encourages us to view much of what is troublesome in our lives as discipline coming from The good Father. Joy, through this study today, may we each be encouraged to remain fully under the Lordship and authority of God.❤️
Such a thought-provoking question. 🩷
Yes and Amen! Thanks Robyn.
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