Walking With God and His Blessing
Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 5:1-21, 32-33
Walk in obedience to all that the LORD … has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper …
Deuteronomy 5:33
After Moses instructed God’s people in the Ten Commandments, he added that they must walk obediently in God’s way. Then, he said, God would bless them richly and make them prosper in the promised land.
To interpret this promise wisely, we need to know that prosperity in the Bible has more to do with spiritual blessings than material or physical things. All over the world there are people who interpret God’s blessing mainly as a promise to make them healthy and wealthy. But that is a mistake. While some people do experience blessings of “never having spent a day in the hospital” or “never worrying about how to pay the bills,” the prosperity gospel, as it is sometimes called, twists the message of Scripture.
Frankly, walking with God can be costly. Many have lost their jobs and their fortunes because of their commitment to Christ. Others have been persecuted and had their health broken because of torture for the name of Christ. Yet, amazingly, these same Christians will declare that in the midst of deep sacrifice they were blessed.
When we walk with God, we live in community with our Lord. We feel God’s delight in all things good, and we sense his pain in the face of sin and evil. Such a close walk with God is itself a blessing. The joy and peace that flow from our relationship with God far outweigh the cost of being a follower of Jesus Christ.
Lord, help us to walk in your way. May we experience the blessings of true joy and peace that come from living in relationship with you. Amen.
About the author — Adrian A. Helleman
Dr. Adrian Helleman served as a pastor in British Columbia before being called to serve as a missionary-teacher in the Philippines. He and his wife, Wendy, later taught philosophy at Moscow State University in Russia, and then philosophy and theology at the University of Jos in Nigeria. They have also lectured in Canada, the United States, South Africa, and Tanzania. They have three children and three grandchildren.
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