Look at the list of blessings that God promises in Deuteronomy 28:1-14. It is a pretty long, comprehensive list. It includes blessings on our kids, our job, our finances and even our status.
As the author of the Outflow book points out, the point of God including this list in His Word is not to imply that God is some huge vending machine in the sky (p. 30). He isn’t some cosmic Mountain Dew dispenser just waiting for someone to put in a quarter so that He can give them something back.
The author goes on to say that we “thirst for more of God’s favor, we can have it for free – no donations or hard work required.” I think I understand where the author was going with this. He was trying to express the idea that God gives to us because God loves us. At the highest level, He does not give because we do just the right thing or work harder than the next guy.
Let me provide a bit of a counter balance to this concept. There are two kinds of promises God makes in Scripture. Some are unconditional promises, in which He simply tells His people “I’m going to do this for you”. He also makes some conditional promises, in which He says “I’m going to do this for you if…”.
These verses from Deuteronomy are clear promises of blessing from God, but in this case, the promises have bookends around them. They are conditional promises.
They start with an “if”:
If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God. – Deuteronomy 28:1-2
And they end with an “if”:
If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. – Deuteronomy 28:13
Does God desire to bless us? Absolutely! Is that blessing the natural desire of a loving father? For sure! Is His blessing free? To the extent that our good works aren’t going to be able to pay for it, yes!
But just like an earthly father, God does have expectations along the way. He has set out clear expectations with clear rewards and punishments. From Genesis to Matthew to Revelation, God has made it clear that He will draw near to those that obey His commandments and withdrawal from those that disobey them.
As with most everything, there is a balance in Scripture. When we get out of balance, we get into trouble. Pray that God would keep us balanced in our view of the blessings He wants to give us! Pray that we would desire them, expect them and appreciate them.
