(FEAR + WALK + OBEY) = BLESSING

King David is one of my very favorite characters in the Bible. He was just a small shepherd boy, least in the family. When Samuel went to anoint someone a king after Saul, God told him he was in the Jesse family, but not the name. When Jesse called his sons one by one, Samuel almost misjudged. But that the difference between us and God. We look on the outside appearances etc but God looks at the heart- inside. The family even forgot about David till there was no one left and they had to go to the fields where he was with his cattle, bring him in and he was anointed to be the King after Saul.
But it wasn’t an easy road for David. Even though God was with him, and he knew he would be the king one day, still he had to run for his life for decades. One thing which amazed me was after all the efforts Saul made to kill David, the kind of respect David had for Saul and his family till the end. Finally he became the king and God was with him through out. All his enemies were no more.
The key is, David was a man who feared the lord and walked in his ways, God honored him and his generations. God made a covenant with him, if you walk in my ways, I will bless you. And we see later God fulfilling his promise by making Solomon the King. Solomon fulfilled all that God wanted David and him to do. When he finished building the temple, he was dedicating the temple for the glory of GOD. Solomon’s prayer of dedication in I kings chapter 8 is an amazing prayer. He remembers that our God is a God who fulfills all his promises, he reminds his people of the promise God made with his father David and how he has fulfilled it to his age and why because they “feared the lord and walked in his ways” God had made a covenant with David and the same was reaffirmed when God appears for a second time to Solomon and makes the same promise. But it also came with a clause; all God’s promises are not freebies. It also had a counter part, what if I did not? Blessing turns to curse. The key in both David and Solomon’s life at this point is that they feared the Lord and walked in his ways.

It reminds me of psalm 128: ‘Blessed are those who fear the lord and walk in his ways’, and when we do that, what happens?

• You will eat the fruit of your labor
• Blessing and prosperity will follow
• You will live long
• Not just you, your wife, your children and generations will be BLESSED

Many a times we go after the Blessing part, that’s not the key. They key is to follow the lord and obey his commands. To strive to be people after Gods own heart.
Solomon did not ask for riches and long life but wisdom and we know that in the end all these came along because he asked for wisdom. So let us not look at the end product and be distracted but then follow his footsteps carefully which is the key- fear of the Lord and walking in his ways.

Remember there is also the other equation which we don’t want to be
No (fear+ walk + obey) = CURSE

But let us (FEAR + WALK + OBEY) = BLESSING to us and others. Amen