Diligently and Carefully

Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 28:1-2

Obedience and Blessings go hand in hand; you rarely see one without the other. The words that really jump out at me in this verse are DILIGENTLY and CAREFULLY. We all know there are different degrees of obedience. For instance, when you tell your child to clean their room. That’s an open-ended interpretation of what the word “clean” means. Am I right? I learned as a mom that I needed to be specific in my instructions about what I meant by “clean your room.”

If we are honest, we often approach God’s commandments just like a child cleaning their room. We might make it look like we obey by going to church and reading our Bible. That’s like a child moving their belongings around (maybe hiding them under the bed) to look like they are doing what they were told.

Often we give our own interpretation of what God’s commandments mean to us. Some say, “well, the Bible was written so long ago; certainly, it doesn’t apply to our culture now.” However, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What He said then is what He says now. If we want to experience the blessing in our lives, we better understand and obey His commandments.

Let’s not pretend to obey by going through the spiritual motions, but let’s be people who diligently and carefully hear the Word and obey it. Amen?

Dear Lord, help me understand your Word and diligently and carefully give attention to it. Amen.