Isaiah 48:18
If you would hearken to my commandments, your prosperity would be like a river, and your vindication like the waves of the sea.
We all like to make bargains. In business, we say, "if you give me $10,000, I'll sell you this car." At home we might say to the kids, "if you do your chores, I'll pay you your allowance." Negotiations can be simple or can be very complex. We also bargain with God. We all do it at some point. I can say without hesitation that I've tried to bargain with God. "God, if I do this, will you give me (fill in the blank)?" Today, the prophet Isaiah proclaims that the Lord God calls to us, paraphrasing, "if you do what I say everything will be fine." The key word is "if." That means there's another side of the coin. If you don't do what I say, then you won't get what I promised. God calls us to live simply, to live within the laws that he gave us. If we just follow those simple commandments, we will be rich and everything will be fine. Because of our sinful nature and pride, we fall short. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't stop trying to be the best we can be. Today, try to drop the "if" and instead make it an "I will". God will honor your effort for the "I will be the best I can be with God's help."
