I grew up in a time and a locale where a man’s word was his bond. You could close deals, buy cars, and with a firm handshake and a steady look in the eyes, have all you needed. Even to the point that it would be an insult to ask someone to sign in addition to their handshake, a show that somehow their word lacked merit. I look back now and I realize that to have this type of trust, you had to have a certain type of heart and a certain type of belief within that heart. The heart had to know without a shadow of a doubt, that what they were promising to do would be done. I guess you could say that what they were pledging to do in their heart was, in essence, already done. Their pledged word was not based in the present but in the future, it was finished.
Today in Deuteronomy 15 we find Moses telling about the Sabbatical year. You already know that the sabbath day was every Saturday, the seventh day of the week that God commanded to be given to the Him. No work was allowed on the sabbath day, you were commanded to just chill. Relax, calm down, sit still, be quiet, cool your jets, simmer down, take a day off. In this day each week you reflected on the blessings that the Lord had generously dealt you and you also had time to bond with your family and well, just recoup from your week and let your body and mind catch up. Oh, that our world would heed the sabbath today. We live in a world that would work 8 days a week if God would only give that extra day. A world that just can’t work enough to make enough to get enough. In our endless pursuit of more we have lost sight of what is enough.
Today we see not details about the sabbath day but the sabbath year. You see, God commanded every 7th year to be a year long sabbath. In this year, God righted the ship. All debts were forgiven, mortgages released, slaves freed and the poor and hungry righted. Now, think about this. Today it’s normal to take out a 30 year mortgage on a house. You pay and pay and pay for that American dream. By the way, some free debt advice from me. If you hope to be debt free, do not ever go over a 15 year fixed rate mortgage. If you can’t afford the house on a 15 year note, don’t buy it. This was a hyper-critical component in Marge and I becoming 100% debt free and remaining debt free. Back to the sabbath year, in the sabbath year all debts and mortgages were forgiven. This was God’s way of equalizing wealth and ensuring a few people didn’t monopolize all the money or land. God had a very interesting way of running an economy, but as you interpret His economical methods just remember, any system is only as good as the hearts that live under it. The hearts of sinners can and will mess up the best economy with greed, dishonesty, theft and debauchery.
But what spoke to me this morning was how God speaks about blessing His people. Three times in our study chapter we find a unique tense of verbiage from God:
“However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today. For the Lord your God will bless you as he has promised” Deut 15:4-6a
“ You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.” Deut 15:10
Key in on the word “will” in all three verses. The word will is one of the most flexible words in the English language. It can be used as an auxiliary verb, a transitive verb, an intransitive verb or a noun in a host of different forms. Here God uses it as an auxiliary verb to express futurity. Here God promises something not only in the present, but in the future. Here you find the promise of God to bless His people into the future. And friends, God’s Word is the most powerful force in the universe. God created the universe with only His Words. He created man and woman by simply speaking. Folks, when God speaks, it is done. When God makes a promise, it is etched into the pages of history.
But notice that God has a precursor, “if only you fully obey the Lord your God and His commandments.” You see, today we want all the blessings that we can possibly get from God, but we want to still do life our way. We want to live life on our terms, but we still expect to get all the rich blessings that God can possibly dish out. Folks, that’s not what God’s Word says and that’s not the promise He just spoke to us.
You see, He also mentions the heart not once, not twice but a whopping three times in chapter 15. (15:7,9,10) As He promises future blessings, He is clarifying what hearts are worthy of His blessings. As you consider your obedience to God’s rules and commands today, how would you score yourself on a scale of 1-10? Do you follow all of God’s rules, commandments and statutes? Do you follow some? Do you even know what they are? Before you get too deep into analyzing your ability to effectively follow God’s rules, allow me to let you in on a little secret…you can try to follow God’s rules but you can’t keep them. Yep, you heard me right, you on your own have no hope of keeping God’s laws and receiving His blessings. But never fear, there is good news.
Have you called on Jesus to be your Savior and save you from your sins? If you have, you have been gifted with a miracle. And this is not a one time miracle but a miracle that happens every minute of your life. You have the very Spirit of God living within you. Let that really sink in. The God that spoke the stars and heavens into existence has made a home in your heart. The question is, what kind of host are you to Him? Do you listen to Him? Do you talk to Him? Do you work on building a strong relationship with Him? Do you love Him, worship Him and obediently follow the instructions He whispers into your ear throughout the day? Or do you neglect Him and go your own way? Do you suppress and ignore His guidance and instead choose to go in a way that will satisfy what you want? You see, the blessings of God are a promise to those that hold Him closely in their hearts and follow His Words in obedience.
Fully obey and follow the commands of God as the Holy Spirit instructs you. As a result, He promises you will be blessed not just today, but every day of your future. Folks, I’m not sure about you, but I will be claiming those blessings using the same auxiliary verb tense of that word the same way that God used it. My word and my handshake have merit to God, and I will pledge my obedience to Him in a future tense to claim His blessings in a future tense. How can I not claim the abundant blessings of God Almighty that He so lovingly and freely offers?
Today, may you walk in harmony with God’s Holy Spirit. And as you are obedient to His Words, may you claim the rich blessings He promises.
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