As the Israelites coalesced around Moses and began their journey toward the Promised Land, God gave them the ten commandments and other decrees and laws and began to fill them with a vision of His intention for them that came from an even more ancient time than theirs. He began to picture for them His deepest motive for their Exodus: If you pay attention to these laws. . . then the Lord your God will keep His covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors. He will love you and bless you. . . He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land, the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. . . None of your men or women will be childless. . . The Lord will keep you free from any diseases. (Deuteronomy :7:12ff)

This partial inventory of blessings comes before a longer description of the curses awaiting God’s people if they fail to obey Him. The blessings also occur in the book of Leviticus, culminating in: I will walk among you, and be your God, and you will be my people. (Leviticus 26:11) In listing the many ways of blessing that God extends to His people, He reveals His sensitivity to the human heart: children, crops, freedom from disease, love, and the companionship of God Himself. We might think that God dangled these blessings in front of His people simply as bait to convince them to keep His covenant, but I believe that these lists of blessings come from deep inside our God, and share with us God’s very purpose for creation. Far from being a futile dream that cannot be realized, these blessings are behind God’s work in our lives, and His real intention for all His people.

God certainly knew that His first generations would not fulfill the vision that He put before them, but He doesn’t hesitate to reveal it anyway. His reasons are limitless, but in part,at least, He is planting a glimpse of what He really shares with humanity: the love, peace, joy, and fruitfulness of life.

Jesus spoke about fruitfulness: Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop, some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown. (Mark 4:20) God doesn’t dangle His blessings before us to get us to keep faith with Him, Instead, God reveals His personal desire for each of us. In sending His son, He put in motion the reality of goodness and salvation that would bridge the gap between Himself and His people. God’s vision for His people is still available in His book. It has never died.

Love in Him,

Prue