LEARNING DAILY

 

Exodus 15:25c-26, and there, He tested them, and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, [then] I will put none of the diseases on you which I brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.”  

 

Sorry, there was no blog yesterday; I was “distracted”!

 

I put the word then in the above verses to help make sense of the promise the Lord made to His people Israel through Moses after passing through the Red Sea. I checked in my Blue Letter Bible app and found that the word ‘if’ is used 1,637 times in 1,455 verses of the Bible. The word ‘then’ is used 3979 times in 3904 verses. I wish I knew how many times the two words were used together in the Bible. For example: ‘If’ you do this, “then I (the Lord) will do ….”.

 

The Bible is clear the followers of Jesus Christ must be willing to do the ‘ifs’ and God will supply the ‘thens’. The ‘thens’ depends on doing the ‘ifs’; one is dependent or follows on the other!

 

Let me copy/paste an example to say some time typing: Proverbs 2:1-5 states, “My son, if (condition) you receive my words, and (if you) treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; Yes, if (condition) you cry out for discernment, and (if you) lift up your voice for understanding, if (condition) you seek her as silver, and (if you) search for her as for hidden treasures; then (result of meeting the condition) you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.” Do you see you must do the ‘ifs’ in order to understand the fear of the Lord and find knowledge of God. Doing the ‘ifs’ unlock promises which cannot be unlocked without meeting the necessary conditions.

 

Romans 10:9 is another very important verse when talking about this subject, “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, [then] you will be saved.” It is important and necessary to see that salvation comes after the condition is met – repentance and acceptance of Jesus Christ must be declared; it is not an option. Those saying there are many ways to be saved are wrong.

 

I would consider that the word ‘if’ is one of the most important words in the Bible. I want you to see and understand most promises in the Bible have conditions with them; those conditions are associated with the word ‘if’. ‘If’ speaks directly to our responsibility to God. Our response to Him will reflect our relationship to Him and determine what we receive from Him.

 

Revelation 3:20 is a verse I enjoy, “behold, I stand at the door and knock. Anyone who hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him.” There are those who believe Jesus is speaking to Christians here, and others say He is speaking about the salvation He offers every person. Perhaps He is speaking to those saved and to those who are not saved. Apply the if/then statement and you can see if a person opens his heart to Jesus, then Jesus will come in to have fellowship, guide, help, protect, heal, do whatever that person needs. Jesus will be with the person who does the ‘ifs’ He tells us we must do as we walk the narrow way to eternal life in His kingdom.

 

What specific ‘ifs’ do you need to be obedient to today?