Understanding and attracting God’s favour
THE Lord our God is for us all; of both the good and bad of mankind. He is an impartial Being who loves us all. However, He holds the prerogative to reward those whom He chooses. In the literary sense favour would mean the undue preference of one person over the others. Obviously there would be a reason behind it. Sometimes it would just be a token of appreciation bestowed on someone in return for a good deed. Goodness also attracts some favours from the Lord.
We should note that there are some pre-ordained blessings from God which may on the surface look as favours. There are other blessings that are derived as a result of the righteousness of an individual or a group of people. Acts of uprightness always get a favourable response from the Lord. They may earn favours or some blessings. A blessing does not necessarily translate into a favour. A person blessed may not in essence be a favoured person. There is some distinction between a favour and a blessing.
In our daily lives there are things we do for others or for our God that may attract some preferences by our peers or from the Lord. In our scriptures the first mention of an inclination of favouratism for a deed was regards the offerings to God by Adam and Eve’s two sons, Cain and Abel.
Genesis 4:2-5 reads: Now Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel brought of the firstling of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard (end quote). Clearly Abel’s offerings were more pleasant for the Lord than those of Cain, hence the preference. There were reasons for the favoured offerings e.g. standardised offering (firstlings of flock, just like the tithe) and pleasantness of deed (fat portions).
Genesis 6:5-8 shows how God favours those who do good and His displeasure for wrong doers. It reads: The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will wipe out man whom I have created form the face of the ground, man and beast and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them”. But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord (end of quote). Note that humanity and all creatures were saved from being blotted out from our planet completely only because of the goodness of one man, Noah.
There are numerous other examples in our scriptures where human righteousness attracts some kind of favour from the Lord. The thing to ask ourselves is what is righteousness before the Lord our God? There are many answers to this question. You may simply be righteous by doing good to others, thus being good to God. Loving your father and mother and being good to them is equally being good to the Lord. Being honest is another, etc. Loving God and the love of your neighbour were the cornerstones of Jesus Christ’s teaching.
Righteousness is embraced in the commandments of God. Follow them and you will be righteous and earn some favours or blessings from the Lord. In Leviticus 18:4-5, He spoke, “You shall do my ordinances and keep my status and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep my status and my ordinances, by doing which a man shall live; I am the Lord.” Jesus Christ always taught us, saying, “If you want eternal life, keep the commandments” (read Matthew 19:1620; Luke 18:18-25 and Mark 10:17:21).
The Lord our God also mention some of the favours He may bestow on the people collectively, who live according to His word. In Leviticus 26:3-12, He again spoke; “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall last to the time of grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time of sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely. I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land. You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. Five of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.
You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new. I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. I am the Lord your God.”
There is a category of people who are favoured not because they are good people, but because of their status in life. Regardless of whether your parents are good people or not, the Lord has this to say, “Honour your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land on earth (the favour)”. Of the old people and of Himself, God demands, “You shall rise up before the hoary head (grey/white haired old people), and honour the face of an old man and you shall fear God: I am the Lord” (Lev. 19:32).
Of little note but of significance, God taught us not to show favour, over one child against another with the following example (Deuteronomy 21:15-17), saying, “If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other disliked, and they have both borne him children, then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved one as the first born in favour over the son of the disliked or divorced wife, who is the first born, but shall acknowledge the first born, the son of the disliked/unmarried/divorced mother, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the first issue of his strength: the right of the first born is his” Amen.