God makes a profound covenantal promise to Jacob in his dream (Gen 28:13-15) and then Jacob makes a conditional vow to God.

CONDITIONAL

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God”, (Gen 28:20-21).

IF.
THEN.

Conditional.

And we shake our head.

Except are we not sometimes guilty of the same?

Have we also bargained with God? Have we even dared to give The Most High ultimatums?

“If you do this God, I’ll do this.”
“If you somehow manage to keep your end of the deal God, I’ll give you Sundays.”
“God if you make my spouse do this, then I’ll keep my promise to you.”

“God, if you do what I expect you to do, I’ll keep following you.”

Oh, we may not say it aloud, or even consciously recognize it sometimes, but our behavior often reflects a conditional relationship, conditional obedience, and conditional surrender to God.

But Jesus clearly told us, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matt 16:24-25)

I wonder, if some of us are missing blessing because we hold back obedience and serving the Lord because we judge God’s actions not satisfactory ?

We expect God to think like us and act like we would, and when He does not, many choose to walk away.

The truth is, a god who would do this is no god at all but a figment of our imaginations-a god created in our own image.

And with that, we need to ask ourselves if we are worshiping the One True God who, alone, defines Himself or if we are worshiping a figment of our own imaginations.

One quick way to know is if we “pick and choose” the parts of Scripture we like and ignore the ones we don’t.

But, if we instead study the Word with a reverential fear of God and a desire to follow Him, then we will treat the Word as the biblical authority it should be and adjust our lives accordingly.

For there is no God like Jehovah!
He is the Alpha and Omega.
He does not change.
His Word is true.
His guidance sure.

And those who are wise will acknowledge Him in all their ways and follow Him, every day, with all they have.

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