WALK IN COVENANT OBEDIENCE

“If you WALK IN MY STATUTES and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I will give you rain in its season…” – Leviticus 26:3-4a

To walk in perfection is to WALK IN COVENANT OBEDIENCE: “If you WALK in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I will give you rain in its season, and the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit” (Lev.26:3-4). A covenant is a binding contract or mutual agreement between two or more parties. God initiates and keeps covenants: “My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips” (Psa. 89:34). “He will ever be mindful of His covenant” (Psa.111:5b). He packaged His covenants into the Holy Scriptures – the Old and New Testaments.

Covenants usually have conditions and responsibilities plus rights and rewards. In Leviticus 26, God’s covenant comes with clear conditions and consequences. In verse 1, God confronts Israel with a choice of allegiances: to love and worship either the living God or idols. This is followed by conditions under which blessings would be released (v.3). The blessings covered three areas of life: abundant supplies of rain, fruitfulness, harvest, and food (vv.4-5a); safety, security, and peace in the land (vv.5b-10); and God’s Presence in Israel’s midst (vv.11-13). He would set His tabernacle and actively WALK among them!

The Old Covenant by which God bound Himself to Israel and Israel to Him said: “…If you will OBEY My voice indeed, and keep My COVENANT, then you shall be a holy nation to Me” (Exo.19:5). Later prophets often reminded Israel of this when they called the nation back to faithfulness to God: “And you shall be My people and I will be your God” (Jer.30:22); “that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God” (Eze.11:20); “My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Eze. 37:27).

In establishing the New Covenant, God said, “Not after the covenant that I made with your fathers” (Jer.31:31-33). The Old Covenant made God’s favour dependent upon the obedience by law: “If you obey, I will be your God.” The New Covenant remedied the defect: God Himself provides for the obedience! It changes “IF you keep…” into “I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to WALK in My statutes, and you shall keep my judgements and do them” (Eze.36:27). God undertakes to empower and ensure our obedience: “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phi.2:13). The Old proved the need and pointed out the path; the New inspires the love and grace for obedience.

The Old Covenant teaches the lesson of the absolute and crucial necessity of obedience for a life in God's favour. The New comes, not to provide a substitute for obedience, but through faith to secure the obedience, by giving a heart that delights in it and is empowered for it. This obedience is of faith: “By faith Abraham…obeyed” (Heb.11:8). The great blessing of the New Covenant is obedience; the wonderful power to will and do as God wills. Obedience of Faith is the believer’s responsibility for enjoying covenant blessings. Therefore, beyond entering into covenant with God, it is more important to WALK in it.

Obedience is essential to pleasing God always. Obedience is a key divine principle of life and hedge of protection from evils. Obeying God always costs less than disobeying Him: “to obey is better than sacrifice” (1Sam.15:22). Yet, it produces greater joy and fulfilment: “If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures” (Job 36:11). In contrast, Satan seeks to tempt believers to disobey God, usually by suggesting that His promises cannot be trusted and that life can be better enjoyed if we ignore God’s commands. As we grow in our walk with the Lord, obedience becomes the avenue of knowing Him better: He pulls us closer to Himself, teaching us more of His precepts and His love.