Devotional - April 5, 2004

Most of us get our image of Moses from the portrayal of him by Charlton Heston in the Cecil B. DeMille production, The Ten Commandments. Curiously, the airing of that movie every Easter season has become somewhat of a tradition, more so than any movie of Jesus' life.

Last night as my wife and I were watching a portion of the movie, we laughed as we noticed Moses using, not only his own words, but also those of Jesus and Paul. Obviously, the writer couldn't get his message across from using the text in Exodus alone. In the same way, I'm afraid our misconception of Scripture is just as grievous as that of DeMille. Take blessing for example.

We love to talk about blessing, don't we? Most of us give God credit for everything in our life that is good. And if we really know Scripture, we'll thank Him for everything else, even if it's bad. (See: 1Th 5:18) But did you realize that every blessing is conditional? That is, it's contingent on something we're expected to do - first!

In Deuteronomy, Moses used the little two letter modifier, "if" when he spoke of God's blessing. And in every situation that comes to mind, the thing expected of us is obedience. You know what that means, don't you? The best definition I've heard for obedience is, "doing what you're told to do immediately with the right heart attitude." Ouch! If that definition is correct (and I think it is), then I'm afraid 90% of our obedience may not qualify for God's blessing.

We are a blessed people are we not? But let me ask you this: Are we blessed to the degree to which God wants to bless us? For example, most will agree God is moving in our churches and our ministries? But, are we experiencing the degree of God's blessing He wants to give us? If not, will you at least consider it might be our lack of obedience that might plugging up the works?

If after hearing this, you may tend to want to blame someone else for your lack of blessing. But isn't it possible that each one of us is both the problem and the solution. IF my people will humble themselves and pray, THEN I will... (2Chr 7:14) It's just like us to get cause and effect out of order.