Our Covenant with God

"One Year Bible" Old Testament History Passage
Deuteronomy 28:1-68

"And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord our God."  Dt. 28:2 (NKJV)

Deuteronomy 28 is one of the classic passages in Scripture describing the blessings upon obedience and the curses upon disobedience.  It is well worth our careful consideration.

We have entered into a covenant relationship with God.  It began by grace without our help.  Salvation is of the Lord!  We have attained a standing before God based on the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ alone.  We have passed from death into life and now know God as Father!  Wonderful!

This however does not deliver us into a realm of passivity.  As sons, God calls us to relate with Him in covenant.  The blessings and the curses are "covenant language."  We should not interpret them as the basis of our relationship -- they are the result of our relationship.  Blessing does not mean acceptance and cursing does not mean rejection.  Blessing means that Father is able to pour out all that HE IS into our lives because we are lining up with Him.  Cursing means that the Father has called us to a high way, but if we persist in our own way, then we will reap the fruit of OUR WAY.

This requires that we grow up in Him.  It's something like the way we raise our children.  If they will prove responsible, we will let them drive the car.  But, if they persist in rebellion and misuse of the car, we withhold permission to use it.  But we do not refuse to love the child.  Instead, our standards are a reflection of our love.  So it is with God.  This is covenant relationship.