Through-out the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament many covenants were made between the Lord and his followers. With these covenants were conditions that, if obeyed, lead to great blessing from God. The Lord used these conditions to show that He had the power to bless in difficult times and as obedience was showed by God’s people, great blessing fell upon them as they lived lives in pursuit of God.
In the Old Testament many covenants are made between God and his chosen people. In biblical times a covenant was often viewed as a business agreement between two parties and all but one required some sort of obligation on the side of man before blessing was granted. Some examples of these conditional covenants include the Sinai Covenant and …show more content…
Without obedience we can find ourselves stagnant and waiting for a miracle to happen when what we should be doing is declaring God as savior and putting our trust in Him. Sometimes the obedience required is not just following rules but stretching ourselves and putting true faith in God. G. H. Lang (1958) also points out that until Abraham had taken the former step of leaving his country in Genesis 12, God did nothing in the fulfillment of His promise. As Abraham put faith in God and followed his commands he was blessed; He bore many sons, his name was changed (from Abram to Abraham at that point) and he inherited a new land, all of which came from his obedience to God. Without this complete obedience we can still gain blessing in the sight of the Lord but we cannot achieve everything that God has planned for us. When Saul was engaged in Holy War with the Amalekites, God had laid out specific guide lines for the battle to follow; He was to utterly destroy the nation he opposed and take no plunder. Instead, he left the King alive and took the nations prized livestock back to Israel. Because of his failure to obey, Saul was rejected as King and ultimately lost the blessing and protection of God. This being said, no one is perfect and it is impossible for us to follow God’s word exactly with sin in the world. Instead we do the best we can, and we acknowledge that we are not flawless and repent for our …show more content…
If they passed they would receive the blessing of the Lord and if not would often fall out of favor. One such test is with Abraham after God blesses him with his son Isaac. God talks to Abraham in a dream and tells him that he must sacrifice his one son in an offering to Him. God does not want to see Abraham kill his son but wanted to test his faith in order to create a stronger relationship with him (Genesis 22:12, NIV). Before the final act was done, God intervened because, as Matthew Henry (1983) had pointed out, “the command was intended for trial, and it appeared, upon trial, that Abraham did indeed love God better than he loved Isaac” (p. 139). God puts his people in these situations to strengthen them and to show his power to bless in difficult situations if they are willing to let Him take control. All of these examples required obedience and a faith that God would work things out for the better. Another instance of this is found in of Mark 10:17 where the rich man who already appeared to be blessed wanted to learn how inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. God told him to sell all of his possessions and follow him, but the risk was too great for the man and he ultimately rejected eternal life. With great risk comes great rewards and God rewards those who follow in obedience although the path may be unclear at the time. Another illustration of this is found in the book of
In the Old Testament many covenants are made between God and his chosen people. In biblical times a covenant was often viewed as a business agreement between two parties and all but one required some sort of obligation on the side of man before blessing was granted. Some examples of these conditional covenants include the Sinai Covenant and …show more content…
Without obedience we can find ourselves stagnant and waiting for a miracle to happen when what we should be doing is declaring God as savior and putting our trust in Him. Sometimes the obedience required is not just following rules but stretching ourselves and putting true faith in God. G. H. Lang (1958) also points out that until Abraham had taken the former step of leaving his country in Genesis 12, God did nothing in the fulfillment of His promise. As Abraham put faith in God and followed his commands he was blessed; He bore many sons, his name was changed (from Abram to Abraham at that point) and he inherited a new land, all of which came from his obedience to God. Without this complete obedience we can still gain blessing in the sight of the Lord but we cannot achieve everything that God has planned for us. When Saul was engaged in Holy War with the Amalekites, God had laid out specific guide lines for the battle to follow; He was to utterly destroy the nation he opposed and take no plunder. Instead, he left the King alive and took the nations prized livestock back to Israel. Because of his failure to obey, Saul was rejected as King and ultimately lost the blessing and protection of God. This being said, no one is perfect and it is impossible for us to follow God’s word exactly with sin in the world. Instead we do the best we can, and we acknowledge that we are not flawless and repent for our …show more content…
If they passed they would receive the blessing of the Lord and if not would often fall out of favor. One such test is with Abraham after God blesses him with his son Isaac. God talks to Abraham in a dream and tells him that he must sacrifice his one son in an offering to Him. God does not want to see Abraham kill his son but wanted to test his faith in order to create a stronger relationship with him (Genesis 22:12, NIV). Before the final act was done, God intervened because, as Matthew Henry (1983) had pointed out, “the command was intended for trial, and it appeared, upon trial, that Abraham did indeed love God better than he loved Isaac” (p. 139). God puts his people in these situations to strengthen them and to show his power to bless in difficult situations if they are willing to let Him take control. All of these examples required obedience and a faith that God would work things out for the better. Another instance of this is found in of Mark 10:17 where the rich man who already appeared to be blessed wanted to learn how inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. God told him to sell all of his possessions and follow him, but the risk was too great for the man and he ultimately rejected eternal life. With great risk comes great rewards and God rewards those who follow in obedience although the path may be unclear at the time. Another illustration of this is found in the book of