Busy at Home

Today's edition of Thirstin' for the Word Thursday comes complete with a new button! A big thank-you goes out to Kysha of Love's School for creating this button for me! Feel free to copy the HTML code from the button in the sidebar and post this button on your own blog!

"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." (John 7:37b)

Feeling a bit parched? Searching to quench that thirst with an iced tea or Diet Coke? Dive into the Word for real refreshment!

I try to be diligent in my Bible reading and am often rewarded by God's speaking to my heart through particular scriptures. I pause and sometimes even write them down. The reflection usually ends there, however. This year, I would like to pursue the verses that God lays on my heart by pondering how He wants me to apply these verses in my life.

Here is what spoke to me this week:

"Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, 'Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, 'Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

Deuteronomy 30:11-20

These verses command us to love God and to obey Him, something that seems simple in theory but is a little more difficult in practice. Some days living up to this command seems "beyond my reach." Yet, these verses also encourage us to persevere because God has not ordered us to do something of which we are incapable. Verse 14 tells us to saturate ourselves with the Word so that it permeates our mind and our heart so that obeying God becomes a lifestyle. Of course, today, we also have the Holy Spirit to help us obey God's command.

What is the advantage of obeying the Lord? Other than the obvious result of pleasing Him, we are told in verse 16 that obedience brings about blessings. I don't think these are simply the blessings of prosperity. Beth Moore in Believing God points out that the Israelites' Promised Land can be compared to our individual callings today. Our obedience helps create the optimal situation for us to live out the calling that He has placed on our lives. Fulfilling the mission for which God has created us, bringing together our gifts, experiences, and personality is a great blessing. I believe that this blessing is the abundance that Jesus mentions in John 10:10.

What are the consequences of disobeying God? Putting other things before God creates a situation where we disobey Him, and this disobedience leads to our destruction, verse 18 tells us. Again, I don't think this merely means our physical death, but also our spiritual death. Ignoring or rebelling against God's commands also means a failure to fulfill the calling for which he has tailor-made us. If we drift away from God, we won't live long in our individual promised lands.

My favorite part of this passage is the last two verses. Now that I am a mother, any bible verses that mention children have a special place in my heart. Verse 19 shows that our obedience to God affects not only ourselves, but also our children. We should be examples of following God's commands to them so that they, in turn, will be obedient. I also love the series of verbs in verse 20: love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. I find it very comforting that God wants a father-daughter relationship with me. He wants my love, just as I relish in the hugs and kisses from my own children. Just as I want my children to listen to me for their own good, so too does He want me to give ear to his rules. Just as I want my children to run to me for comfort when they are frightened or hurt, God wants me to turn to him first when a crisis hits.

These verses have encouraged me to "choose life" today. Won't you join me?

So, what verses have spoken to you this week? Post those verses on your own blog, along with how you see that God wants you to apply them in your life. Then, provide your link below so that we can drink from one another's wells of scripture.