Read for This Week’s Study: Matt. 10:22, John 6:29, Deut.
28:1–14, Prov. 3:1–10, Mal. 3:7–11, Matt. 6:25–33.
Memory Text: “ ‘Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the
voice of the L ord your God, to observe carefully all His command-
ments which I command you today, that the L ord your God will set
you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall
come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the
L ord your God’ ” (Deuteronomy 28:1, 2, NKJV).
Amazingly enough, God has made contracts (or covenants) with us.
Most are bilateral, meaning that both parties (God and humans)
have a part to perform. An example of a bilateral covenant is “If
you will do this, then I will do that.” Or “I will do this if you will do that.”
A rarer type of covenant is unilateral. “I will do this whether you do
anything or not.” A few of God’s covenants with humanity are unilateral.
For example, “ ‘He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and
sends rain on the just and on the unjust’ ” (Matt. 5:45, NKJV). Following
the Flood, God promised humanity and “every beast of the earth” that
there would never be another flood to cover all the earth (see Gen.
9:9–16), regardless of our actions. He also promised: “ ‘While the earth
remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and
day and night shall not cease’ ” (Gen. 8:22, NKJV). The seasons will
come and go, regardless of what we do.
This week we will study some significant bilateral covenants between
God and His children. Let’s pray that, by God’s grace, we will “uphold
our end of the bargain.”
