Deuteronomy 27:1 – 28:68 (Continued)

April 19, 2010

BUT if you do not obey the LORD your God, then ALL these curses will come upon you and STAY:

• You will be cursed in the city and country; no matter where you go you cannot get away from the curses.
• Your basket (what you reap) and your kitchen (what you produce) will be cursed. You can strategize, you can scheme, you can work hard, but it will be for nothing.
• Your children will be cursed. You will have taught them the ways that dishonored me, and generations will bear the consequences.
• Your crops will be cursed.
• Your herds will be cursed.
• You will be cursed when you go in or out; you will not be able to get away from it.

The curses in Deuteronomy 28:16–19 are the exact opposite of the blessings found in Deuteronomy 26:3–6. Blessings—verses—Curses. Our actions bring God's promised results. Why do we (people) think we can do whatever we want and not reap the consequences? God's word is so clear! If we submit ourselves to God's authority and obey His teachings, we are blessed—even when we face struggles. If we insist on doing things our way, and make ourselves our own god and refuse to submit or obey—we will be cursed. 

The list of curses that follow the ones already listed in verses Deuteronomy 28:16–19 are powerful:

Verse 20 - you will have curses, confusion, and punishment
Verse 20 - you will be destroyed and suddenly ruined
Verse 21 - you will have terrible diseases, fever, and swelling
Verse 24 - you will have lack of rain and plant diseases
Verse 25 - you enemies will defeat you
Verse 28 - you will be paranoid
Verse 28 - you will be punished
Verse 28 - you will have madness, blindness, and a confused mind
Verse 29 - you will fail in everything you do
Verse 29 - people will hurt you and steal from you
Verse 29 - no one will help you
Verse 34 - you will lose your mind
Verse 36 - you will be sent away
Verse 37 - you will become hated and people will make fun of you and laugh at you
Verse 51 - you will be ruined
Verse 52 - you will trust in yourselves but it won't work
Verse 53 - you will be surrounded
Verse 54 - you will become cruel to those you love
Verse 56 - your personality will change
Verse 65 - you will have no rest
Verse 65 - you will have no place of your own
Verse 65 - you will be worried and sad
Verse 66 - you will live with danger and be afraid
Verse 67 - you will have terror in your heart and wonder whether you will live

Deuteronomy 28:45 - "All these curses will come upon you. They will chase you and catch you and destroy you, because you did not obey the LORD your God and keep the commands and laws he gave you." (Psalm 140:11 - "May disaster hunt down men of violence.")

Deuteronomy 28:47-48 - The curses will be a sign to you and generations to come. "You had plenty of everything, but you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and a pure heart," SO, you will serve those the LORD sends against you. "You will be hungry, thirsty, naked, and poor, and the LORD will put a load on you until he has destroyed you." Wow! This sounds so much like Psalm 140.  (Her Name Was Jane)

It is our choice. Blessings—verse—Curses. God has promised us the results. Deuteronomy 28:58 says it crystal clear. "You must respect the glorious and wonderful name of the LORD your God" OR you will suffer the consequences. This ought to stop every single one of us in our tracks. What are we going to do? Who are we going to serve? God? Or ourselves? The choice is ours, the results are promised. 

 

Joshua 24:15 - Choose you this day whom ye will serve. As for me and my house, we WILL serve the Lord.

Addendum:  11/12/13 ~ The Life Lesson has an excerpt from Walking With Christ in the Details of Life by Patrick Morley. It is spot on. Here it is in its entirety:

"The partially surrendered life may be Christian in spirit, but it is secular in practice. It may save one's soul, but it hardly leaves a noticeable ripple on one's lifestyle, life view, or the world and culture in which we live. Of what earthly value is Christianity if it leaves no indelible mark on one's lifestyle? It is of no value (in this life) to be Christian if you do not think Christianity—if you do not have a Christian life view. 

We live in a broken generation. One doesn't need to be a rocket scientist to make this observation, but the obvious question, of course, is Why? Many think the answer is confusing, but it is not. It is found throughout the record of Scripture—it is disobedience. It is to lead a partially surrendered, or worse, an unsurrendered, unyielded life. How can we learn to be obedient? We must learn how to surrender, to submit to Christ in the details of daily life.

Over the past few decades, many of us started off on the wrong foot with Jesus Christ. It is the proposition that Jesus can be Savior without being Lord. It is the idea that one can add Christ, but not subtract sin. Many of us have merely added Christ to our lives as another interest in an already busy and otherwise overcrowded schedule. This sort of thinking has watered down the meaning of a personal relationship with Christ.

The problem is that we often seek the God we want, but do not know the God who is. Many men and women I have met express complete, utter frustration about leading this kind of defeated (sometimes counterfeit), partially surrendered life—the life of a cultural Christian.

 How did this come about? The low demands of cultural Christianity have led to a low response—it has become the norm. But the Bible calls men and women to a turning point, to a radical, life-transforming change. This turning point is no mean challenge, but a full surrender to history's most ideal, most radical leader: the Lord Jesus Christ."

Next Entry: Deuteronomy 29:1 – 30:20