Life Lesson: Living
in God’s covenant means that we seek to honor Him.
A
man of God brings a word in a setting for an amazing revelation of the heart of
God and His ways among His people. He
sent a man to warn his people of the faithless Eli but also to pronounce a
significant transition. God in his love
would seek to lead his faithless
Those
who honor God, God will honor, and those who do not honor God, He will lightly
esteem.
This
message would ring down through the rest of time for God’s people. Over and over he warns and encourages His
people to walk faithfully with Him in His covenant. This is His invitation to His people of every
generation to this very day.
Gen.
12:3; Ex. 19:5; Matt. 13:11-12
God’s
people had to decide . . .
1. Did they believe God?
2. Would they remain faithful to the
covenant God made with them?
3. Would they bring their lives into the
covenant relationship that they had entered with God?
4. Would they listen to God, hear His
voice, and obey Him?
5. Did they expect God to do His works
through them?
God
sends messengers and messages to His people –
The Lord is
always challenging us to hear, to listenMatt. 11:15; 13:9; Rev. 2:7,11,17,29;
Sometimes people
reject God’s messages/messengers Matt.
23:31,37; Acts 7:51-53
God
will honor those who honor Him – the Covenant relationship
Exodus 19-20;
Deut. 28
The covenant says, If you will . . . then I will.
If you do not . . . then I will not do.
God
emphasizes fear in the covenant relationship (Jer. 5:22; Ex. 20:18-21)
It is no minor
significance that when God first gave His people the privilege of entering a
covenant relationship with Him, He deliberately gave it in a way as to create
fear in Him.
What
happens when our hearts turn away?
(Deut. 30:17; Is. 29:13; Matt. 15:8-9)
* We no longer hear Him.
* We no longer experience His manifest presence.
* We no longer obey Him.
* We listen to other voices and follow them.
* We become hardened.
* We may still continue our outward allegiance to God through religious activity.
God’s
people may try to continue an outward allegiance to God in spite of their
hearts
Is. 29:13; Matt.
15:8-9; Mk. 7:6-7; Rev. 2:4
When we no
longer obey, we have departed from our love relationship with God. (Jn. 14:15,23-24)
God’s
antidote for a departing heart is one word: “Repent” (Ez. 18:31-32; Matt. 4:17)
Repent is one of
the most important words in the whole Bible.
The Bible never talks of "rededication." It speaks of repentance. The basic message of Jesus, John the Baptizer, and the early apostles was "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand."
Repentance brings us back to the covenant relationship where we can once again honor God and be honored by Him, minister to God and receive His manifest presence, bless od and be blessed.
Repent is a positive - not a negative - word.
Honor
Him or be lightly esteemed
For
God to honor a person is incredible. But
for God to lightly esteem is a fearful statement. It carries with it the withdrawal of the
affirming presence of God. It means His
blessings are now withheld, including protection, provision, and victory.
John
Piper wrote, “God’s own glory is uppermost in His own affections. In everything
He does, His purpose is to preserve and display that glory. To say His glory is
uppermost in His own affections means that He puts a greater value on it than
on anything else. He delights in His glory above all things… God’s overwhelming
passion is to exalt the value of His glory. To that end He seeks to display it,
to oppose those who belittle it, and to vindicate it from all contempt”
(Desiring God, p. 43).
Sources Used: Chosen to Be God's Prophet by Henry Blackaby
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