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"But if you do not obey Me…" I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart." (Leviticus 26:14a, 16 NKJV)
Not long ago someone knowingly living in disobedience to the clear commands of the Word of God told me, "I know; I’m praying about it. Don’t worry; everything’s going to be alright." That may be true and it may not. God is surely kind and patient with His disobedient people, but His Word should make us to tremble if we are knowingly living in any path of sin. It matters not that we can offer to our friends and loved ones a plausible justification as to why we are doing what is wrong according to God’s Word. And to think that any of us has the audacity to say that we are "praying about" whether we will obey the God we call Father!
If you are of any age (that is, if you are approaching the age of dirt like me), it could be that your parents did not merely expect obedience; they absolutely demanded it. I cannot imagine telling my mom or dad, when they gave me some clear instruction, that I intended to give it a great deal of thought. Or tell them I would most likely do it…probably…maybe sometime soon…which remark would have closely preceded my funeral service! If we cannot imagine disregarding the word of our earthly parents, what makes us think we can set aside the Word of Almighty God without fear?
Now most people in our modern times have a rather soft view of God, as if He is our grand, soft pillow of comfort in the sky. He is all love and no justice. He is all forgiveness and no judgment. He is all comfort and kindness, and understands that we have “the can’t-help-its” when it comes to our sin. Surely our Father would not deal harshly with His dear children—us.
Another river in Egypt (denial) is the thought that God never sends trouble on His sinning people these days—He may have done things like that way back when, when the Israelites were wandering about in the desert wastelands, but not since Jesus came to save us. But Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday, today and forever;" is He not? We cannot rightly understand anything as long as we pit God against God, as if a few thousand years of human history has worked some great change in God’s mind and Being, that the God revealed to us in the Old Testament Scriptures is different from Jesus, meek and mild. God has not changed. He does not change. His character remains perfect and His holiness uncompromised.
To the Israelites God gave covenant promises, conditioned upon their obedience. The New Covenant of which we partake in Jesus Christ is fundamentally different and better. It provides for something that the Old Covenant did not; it addresses the big problem with us. Whereas the Old Covenant was not necessarily tied to spiritual regeneration and the giving of a new heart, the New Covenant is necessarily tied to the effectual work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration.
Only the regenerate person is a partaker of the New Covenant and its blessings. And although we who partake of the blessings of the New Covenant are not "under the law" with its condemnation and conditional provisions, the reality is that we are fools to think that we can willingly disobey God as if sin is no big deal. For His people Christ indeed suffered the penalty for all our sin. But if we are truly God’s children willingly disobeying our Lord’s clearly revealed will, we can expect Him to raise His hand against us. Paul asked, "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer in it" (Romans 6:1)?
Might we learn from Leviticus? Hear the Word of our God and be emboldened to turn away from any and all known disobedience and distrust! If we disobey our Lord, how can we possibly have any confidence that He will be pleased prosper us on our way? Will we risk sinning away His favor? And no, I’m not talking about material fortunes alone, but those things are not excluded from the discussion either. Sometimes the Lord salts our fields so that all of our best efforts come to almost nothing, if that. Sometimes He does send upon a disobedient people and an unbelieving people extreme harshness and afflictions. Hear His Word and fear! Let a true fear of God’s righteousness cause us to run to Him, and not away from Him! Leviticus 26:17-21 NKJV
"I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you. 'And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit. 'Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins."
Would we continue in disobedience if we knew God might begin to treat us as enemies? Do we think we might possibly stand against Him and continue in disobedience and survive unscathed? Surely the fear of the Lord is a good starting place for a well-lived life of faith! There is no need to "pray about" whether we will obey the Lord. It is a stupid prayer—yes, stupid. However, it is not a stupid prayer to beg His help and grace, so that our hearts will be happily inclined to do all that He commands us to do. That is something we all should be praying today and every day, for apart from our Lord’s grace we would always love crooked ways. –TSA
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