Numbers 20:6-8
“Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.”
God cares very much about obedience and in the above verse God tells Moses to "tell the rock to yield its water." What is not apparent in this verse is that Moses had already received water for the Hebrews by "striking a rock" with his rod (staff or stick) on a previous occasion but God's instruction now was to SPEAK to the rock.
You see, God was trying to teach Moses that words have power and God had given Moses the authority, and instruction to speak - but that went over Moses' head. He missed that and thought to himself, "Last time I got water by hitting the rock, I will just do the same thing." However, that was not God's instruction and Moses was banned from the promised land for his disobedience.
So, we know obedience is important to God. Now, we read this in Deuteronomy 28:47-48
47 Because thou served not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
Verse 47 tells us what we receive when we serve with "joyfulness and with a glad heart" - we receive the abundance of all things, and verse 48 tells us what happens if we fail to serve with a glad heart and joyfulness.
So you see, you need to be obedient to God's voice AND follow His instructions with joyfulness and a glad heart to receive the fullness of your covenant blessings
Remember this, obedience is one thing, doing it with a glad heart is a whole 'nother level!
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