Choose Blessing

Read Deuteronomy 26:16 through Deuteronomy 30
 
Deuteronomy 26:19 God has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.
 
LET’s consider a loving father who sits in the audience to watch his son receive his high school diploma. He thinks of the difficult times his son has endured, rebelling against some of his teachers and rejecting his father’s authority. And then he considers his son’s change of heart. He began to live into the school’s and household rules. His grades improved over four years. Now he is accepted into college. Today is a day to celebrate. The father praises his son for many things, but most of all he sets his son in praise because he is his son.
   God loves you in this same way. The blessings of Deuteronomy demonstrate how God was moving Israel out of their past failures into a blessed future. In wondrous, persistent love, God remained committed to Israel, so he could one day send Jesus to die and live for you. He has welcomed you across the stage of life’s challenges – and even rebellion – into life eternal.
   Yes, God has gone a long way to set you in his praise to call you his own.  
 
A Place to Rest
 
Deuteronomy 28:2-6 All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God: 3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. 4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock – the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. 5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. 6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
 
FEEL the warmth of a blanket come over you on a cool, rainy night. You have been working outdoors, and you are chilled. The day is done, and it is time to relax.
   This scripture is like that, don’t you think? God is covering his people with himself. He is offering to them all they need to rest well. “You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.” There’s also the covering of physical blessing. “Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.” Believe in God and believe God. Know his blessing always protects and enriches you with his presence.  
 
Life Set Before You
 
Deuteronomy 30:14-16 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. 15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.
 
WHEN a meal is set before you, you have permission to eat and enjoy, so it will bless your body. In a like manner, the Triune God had graciously set himself before Israel through the law. Today he has set himself before you through the Savior! “Take it; this is my body…This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” (Mark 14:22 & 24) 
   Israel had a choice. So do you. Choose God Almighty. Live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you. Enjoy God’s good food set generously before you.