Is your view of God one of a strict dictator or of a loving God? What is the feeling that you read into the text of the Bible? Do you see the Lᴏʀᴅ as one with your best at heart or as a god striving to deprive you of all you want?
Look closely at the reason in this command: ‘That it may be well with you.’ Wouldn’t that be what you would want—God’s greatest good on your behalf, that which allows and promotes relationship with Him? It is in agreement–‘obeying My voice’–that we allow Him to be ‘our’ God and we to be ‘His’ people. Walking with Him, staying in step with Him, is the path to ‘it being well with us’ as we live in His presence.
The opposing position is in the second verse of today’s passage, that ‘doing it our way’ syndrome:
Do you read these two verses as the heart of the Lᴏʀᴅ desiring, almost pleading with us to go the course ‘that it may be well’ or as a god looking forward to giving us what we rightfully deserve? Listen to the heart of God when you are reading these difficult texts and see His priority for us to be close to Him if we will only agree with what He knows is best for us. Please.