The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways.
And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you.
Truth: Only God can cause you to be respected and honored.
In this section of Deuteronomy we have the "blessings and the curses." God is giving the nation the outline of what can and will happen if they obey Him and what can and will happen if they disobey Him. If they disobey they have nothing but cures in front of them. If they obey, they have blessings. It was a simply as that. Blessing (even in tough times and in suffering) follows those who follow God's word and obey Him. The specific blessing mentioned above is that the nation can be blessed by having their enemies and the peoples of the world "fear them." That might not sound much good to us, in our society. However, in Israel's day (they were about to enter the promise land) this was huge. Having your enemies fear you, rather than believe they can conquer you, meant many wars avoided and many victories ahead. Only God can bring this kind of honor upon us. Solomon makes mention of honoring being a blessing found for those who fear the Lord and obtain wisdom:
Proverbs 3:16 (ESV Strong's)
Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.
God causes others to fear us and to honor us. Honor is His to bestow. Honor is not what we have done, or achieved, or earned. Honor is a blessing from God that comes to those who Honor God.
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