Joy Gems
Serve Gladly in Prosperity
Oh-oh. Have you seen this warning from God to serve gladly in prosperity? It is followed by a strong --Or else!
Deuteronomy 28:47 Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you.
God, speaking to His people through Moses, has just described a number of curses that will fall on them if they do not obey all His precepts and commands. This verse tells all that could come upon them - if they did not serve the LORD their God joyfully and gladly in time of prosperity.
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God reiterates the consequences. In hunger and thirst then, and in nakedness and dire poverty they will serve the enemies the LORD sends against them.
Are you suffering these things? Have you had a better time, a time of relative prosperity before when you took things for granted and did not serve the Lord joyfully and gladly? This verse would imply a direct correlation.
It is a given then, that when we serve the Lord, we are to do it joyfully and gladly. Anything less than that will bring on a miserable existence. Why, even bondage under enemies that God will send into our lives!
I've always thought it an honour to serve the Lord and have mostly done it gladly. (I confess, there are times I turned it into drudge work). Now I see that this principle which God applied to His nation of Israel is also transferable to me and you today. We need to take this warning very seriously.
PRAYER: Oh LORD my God, this is a wake-up for me. I see that serving You joyfully and gladly is not an option just for the out-going and basically cheerful people, but that You look for and expect such an excellent attitude from us - if we want to call ourselves Yours, and be devoted to doing Your will. And I do! Forgive me for the times I have grumbled and acted hard done by. Clean up my motives and make me to serve gladly in prosperity.
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