We are redeemed by God's grace and we should have joyfulness and gladness of heart because of the abundance of all things. Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God". Deuteronomy 26:9-10 instructs the Israelites that when they come into the promised land, "the land flowing with milk and honey", that they should bring the first of the fruit of the ground that the Lord has given them and set it down before the LORD your God and bow down before the LORD your God. Our "promised land" is our Salvation in Yeshua and the promise of the Holy Spirit dwelling in our heart and progressively conforming us to the image and heart of Yeshua. Deut 26:17-19 establishes the covenant between God and his redeemed people: "Today you have obtained the LORD's agreement: to be your God; and for you to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances, and to obey him. Today the LORD has obtained your agreement: to be his treasured people, as he promised you, and to keep his commandments, for him to set you high above all nations that he has made, in praise and in fame and in honor; and for you to be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised." Deut 28 sets out the consequences of the blessings of obedience and the curses of disobedience. Deut 28:45-48 "All these curses (of disobedience) shall come upon you,because you did not obey the LORD your God,... Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and with gladness of heart for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and in lack of everything. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you." With our sinfulness we all fall short of the righteousness of God, and we all need God's mercy and grace through the atoning blood of Yeshua. Isaiah 60:10 "but in my favor I have had mercy on you." We pray LORD create in us a grace filled heart.
