Leviticus 26:3 “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them,

This is a dependent promise. What is promised for obedience?

4 then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

He promised to control nature in a manner that would bless them.

Leviticus 26:14 “But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments,”

Dependent promises have promises for disobedience.

16 then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

Disobedience becomes personal, not afflicting mankind by withholding the blessing of nature but by attacking mankind in a personal physical manner. There is one more implied punishment by invoking the enemy clause. Whatever shield of protection that was given would be removed.

These promises and declarations of punishments are repeated over and over again in the old testament. God kept promising and Israel kept disobeying. Obviously dependent promises were not enough to keep His children from sinning.

Romans 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Think of God’s laws as being a mirror in which we get to see what we are in relationship to a just and holy God. In the new testament the word justified is brought into context. Being justified in God’s sight is now what is paramount in this relationship. Obedience takes second place.

Obedience doesn’t change the face in the mirror.

So what does change the way we see ourselves?

Ezekiel 36:26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Numbers 20:11-13 Amplified Bible

11 Then Moses raised his hand [in anger] and with his rod he struck the rock twice [instead of speaking to the rock as the Lord had commanded]. And the water poured out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank [fresh water]. 12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed (trusted) Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, you therefore [a]shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” 13 These are the waters of Meribah (contention, strife), where the sons of Israel contended with the Lord, and He showed Himself holy among them.

Footnote

1. Numbers 20:12 Moses apparently allowed his anger and frustration with the Israelites to blind him to the significance of what God had instructed. Although thoroughly exasperated by the Israelites, Moses was still held accountable for his behavior.

Moses met with God face to face and in this moment disobeyed God. For that disobedience Moses was denied his leadership of Israel. The promise of God to see the promised land was denied Moses and Aaron.

I am no Moses. Why should you trust me? The answer is that you should not.

The promises of God are not dependent on my obedience, no more than Israel’s being given the Promised Land was dependent on Moses. God was still good for His Word and His promise.

All I can do, at my very best, is to announce His promises, but His promise is His promise, not mine to own. Everyone has to find it within themselves to discover if they trust God enough to follow God and discover for themselves which promises are to be realized in the time they have left for them.

A dear friend of mine finally trusted in God, believed Him and faith, and died shortly thereafter.

What promise did he achieve in that short time? If nothing else, eternal life.

What proof do I have? None, but my hope is based on my faith in His promise. I trust that God is good for His Word. John’s turning point was when he believed God was not a liar. That was enough for him.

What will it take for you?