Obeying God is a rewarded lifestyle. Deuteronomy 4 begins with God reminding Israel how He destroyed those who chose idol worship. Worship of Baal Peor was not the representation God accepted from His people. This is the key, and we may not always see it because hard times do fall upon God's people. We can easily be consumed by keeping our eyes on those difficulties, though we do not need to be. But you can take this to the bank; God does not destroy His obedient children with those who choose wickedness.
After God outlines the destruction that came upon the Baal Peor worshipers, he addresses his obedient children. He says, "But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive today, every one of you." That is encouraging to hold on to and should be held in our hearts and minds. God does not treat the righteous the same as the wicked. You may be thinking, "wait, I know someone who walked with the LORD and died in a flood, during a hurricane, or other. Don't tell me God doesn't treat the righteous and the wicked alike."
First, let me explain that the death of a righteous person is not a punishment. Paul says, "to live is Christ; to die is gain" Philippians 1:21. This world is mourning and affected by sin, and death will meet each person who lives unless Christ returns. Unfortunately, many people see the death of a man or woman of God as a negative, but if they came back and you asked them, I believe they'd say differently.
We can be assured that God rewards His children's obedience with wisdom. This wisdom impacts the world around them. As we live the way God commands, it affects the lives of others. Deuteronomy 4:6 says, "For be careful to observe (God's commands); for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." This passage seems to be far removed from where we live today. No one seems to respect the lives of those who live with integrity, walk solidly in obedience to God, and who hold to The Truth. But Israel was a peculiar people too. God set up laws antithetical to the Nations living in the land. Keeping a Sabbath would have been very foreign to other nations, but it was meant to separate Israel's God from all idol worship. God's law was to show the grace, justice, and mercy of The Creator God, who wanted to draw The nations to HImself, using Israel.
As these people showed through their obedience to God, it is rewarded. It gave them protection through the consequences of idol worship others practiced against God's commands. It allowed them to experience the land God promised them. Those who chose to trust God, from Caleb and Joshua, wanting to go into the land when ten other spies talked the people out of it were blessed to live in it eventually. Throughout their story, we can read those who disobeyed God as His representatives die of that choice. Now we see God speaking specifically of the wisdom of obedience as his children's reward and being a blessing to others who do not know Him.
These rewards are not simply from being moral and good people. They are rewarded for their faithfulness to God. Habukkuk says this in the book of the Bible named for him, "But the just shall live by his faith." This is actually to say, "the just shall live" receiving life by being faithful. Remember, God was going to send an evil country to take His people into captivity. God would spare His faithful children or reward their obedience by keeping them safe as captives in a foreign land. We see that lived out by young men like Daniel and his companions. There were more; we just don't find their stories in the Bible. Faithfulness is reflected in trusting who God is and believing or acting on what He says and commands.
In the new testament, we can read that obedience is also where we find wisdom. In 1 Corinthians 1:30, we are told that "in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption." Though this is God's gift to us, we do not experience this; even as Christians, when we choose disobedience. Remember, those who experience God's chastening were His people, and those rewarded were His children. God's children sin; that goes without saying. It isn't in ignorant sin, learning that we disobeyed and repenting that consequences come. It is in presumptuous, continued sin and saying you "believe and belong to God" you can cause others to curse God, and He must bring chastening as a light to the world of what He tolerates and does not.
How is obedience our wisdom and reward?
When we walk obediently, we are emulating Jesus' life. In many passages in the Bible, this is commanded; Ephesians 5:1 "imitate God... in everything you do..." 1 John 2:21 "whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked." I can add 1 Peter 2:21, Luke 6:35-36, Matthew 5:9, 14-16, and 1 Corinthians 11:1. "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ," says Paul. Paul also reminded us in Galatians 2:20 that as we live, it is Christ that people see in our obedience and as we live out in our faithfulness to Him. Paul sounds like Habukkuk, reminding us that our faithfulness to God through His Word reflects His Son.
As Christ is reflected in our faithful living, he becomes, to those who obey, their wisdom. Going back to Deuteronomy4:4-9 history, God points out the people's obedience as their wisdom, which was a reflection of His character through His Word showing up in them. Just as I warned us that the blessing of this kind of wisdom only comes through our obedience, God warns these people He just applauded, "only take heed to yourself..." He understands that choosing obedience is a continued work of faithfulness. It is not automatic. They must remember all they've seen as God's character towards sin and His rewards of obedience and choose to walk in the latter. We have the same daily, moment-by-moment choices.
Read Hebrews 11, the passage that lays out a memory lane of faithfulness. Then we turn to Hebrews 12, which reminds us to reflect on this kind of faith because it is too easy to stumble when we remove our eyes from these kinds of godly examples to help us walk obediently in every moment. God surrounds us through His Word with hope and His Spirit for help. We have the benefit of having God's Word, The Bible, to show us how obedience is our wisdom and reward. Both of those are Jesus Himself.
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