Keeping the Word of God is one of the hardest things to do. And its rewards are not insignificant either. It is an act that requires great discipline, godliness, diligence and stubbornness. If one has all these qualities he or she can please God at any given time. A deep desire of the saved is to keep God’s Word wholly. It is born out of being born of God that reveals the weakness and uselessness of the flesh and its nature. When our desire is amply supplied by discipline, godliness, diligence and stubbornness, we keep God’s Word from His perspective. As believers born through grace we always look to keep the Word. For in it are God’s precepts, commandments, Law, surety, His fear and judgments. They perform their duty as and when we turn to them. The servant of God said, “Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward” (Ps. 19:11).
The best and wise way for a good life is to keep His Word. It constantly keeps us in check helping us grow in our relationship with Him. As we continually keep it, it helps us to cultivate the kind of stubbornness that does not allow us to stray away from Him. We learn of the kind of life we can have and the kind of life we could miss. We know the ways of God so that we can despise the ways of knowledge and worldly desire. We receive counsel for the things we wish to do; and by heeding it we do not miss the great reward. Besides the blessings God wishes to bestow on us there are also His rewards. Each time we heed His counsel He rewards us. It is for this reason we understand Him as a loving and awesome God. Then, our praise of Him too comes from within our heart. We get to see Him in a unique way, a way that is very distant to the unsaved and the pretenders.
As a parent you can have one of the greatest rewards of God through keeping His Word. The Spirit in the wise man said, “Assuredly, the evil man will not go unpunished, But the descendants of the righteous will be delivered” (Prov. 11:21). The righteous keep God’s Word; they strive to obtain His commendation. It is because of their astute living for Him that He even considers delivering their descendants from all evil. It is a gift that you can possess for those that come after you. For this reason also God calls parents and leads them through various ways so that those who come after them will escape punishment. How awesome it is for parents to know that God takes the responsibility of delivering their children from all forms of evil! It is indeed His promise.
And of the evil men the Word of God says, “They hatch adders’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from that which is crushed a snake breaks forth” (Isa. 59:5). They bring forth and cultivate things that are dangerous and sinful. Anyone who participates in their actions will get hurt. If one break opens their plan or looks into it, he or she comes to understand the wickedness in their plans. They knit their plans over others to subdue them so that they overcome them with evil. One of the benefits of keeping God’s Word is detect the nature of evil men. It keeps us informed of anyone that tries to lure us away from God. The warning it gives alerts us far ahead concerning their actions. We can all escape from hurt by keeping His Word. “It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him” (Dan. 2:22).
Whatever it is that comes from His Word is to our benefit. His Word contains the knowledge of everything that intents to harm us. When we resort to it, we gain unprecedented prudence to make the right choice. It literally reveals the things we do not know or have no idea of. It gives us the kind of wisdom that acts as a light in utter darkness. We can no longer be ignorant of dark matters, but will detect them with the light of His Word. For this reason, it is right to believe that there is no secret hidden from Him. He lives to keep us free from all harm, ignorance and loss. Therefore, Jesus said, “Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children” (Luke 7:35).
When we are in possession of God’s wisdom, we justify it as His children. Since our walk in Christ, i.e. keeping God’s Word, elaborates our hearts to see that which God sees, wisdom receives the honor it deserves. In this God is greatly pleased and thus, He will greatly reward us.
Keeping God’s Word indicates two things.
- God is our priority. In other words, we love His approval more than anything else. John in describing the rulers who believed in Jesus, but did not openly confess Him said, “For they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God” (John 12:43). Keeping God’s Word keeps us from making a similar mistake. In everything we venture to do we make sure we have God’s approval. This leads to the next point.
- God is glorified. When Peter was fulfilling the purpose God gave him, it yielded fantastic results. God was working in and through him that His name is perpetually glorified. At one time when He worked through him Peter was able to raise Tabitha from the dead. And “It became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord” (Acts 9:42). God desires to use us immensely. But first we ought to be the kind of people that continually keep His Word. The rewards will always be there for us, but most of all, the glory of God is made known to all those around us. Whatever He wants us to do in life He uses that as an avenue to influence many to come into Christ. You and I are never insignificant to Him, because of the Word we keep.