Deuteronomy 25-28
Blessings and Cursings

As we near the end of the book of Deuteronomy, Moses will soon die and leave the people he has invested so much of himself in. Much like a father, he looks over the children of Israel, very much aware of their strengths and their weaknesses. What can he do, he must have thought, to impress upon these people the great need to remain true to Yahweh God?

In chapter 28, we find Moses' stirring words of encouragement and warning to the Israelites. They could not take their dedication to God lightly. God was a God to them who wanted to bless them, and bless them richly. He wanted to lift them up as a nation above all other nations, He wanted to protect them for others and help them to prosper. "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" (28:9). All this was based on one stipulation: "And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all nations" (28:1).

"But, if you will not obey the voice of the LORD you God or be careful to do all His commandments and His statues that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you" (28:15). Verses 16-68 detail all the hardship the people would bring on themselves if they turned away from God. They include slavery, poverty, sickness and destruction. It is not a pretty list.

Of course, if you know the history of the children of God, these were the very things that characterized their existence as a nation. They rebelled from the law of God; sometimes egregiously, sometimes slightly. They did what they wanted to do. If they wanted to serve God, they did. If they wanted to serve themselves but act like they were serving God, they did. If they wanted to ditch God for the gods of the land, they did. And, what God said He would do in these dire words of chapter 28, He did. Lovingly, though, he always sent prophets to warn the people of the consequences of their actions, but often to little avail. They set up gods for themselves and engaged in willful behavior, and eventually they were taken into Assyrian and then Babylonian captivity.

The apostle Paul gave similar words of encouragement and warning in Romans 2:6-11, "He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality."

There is no limit to God's ability to bless those who follow Him. At the same time, there is no limit to His ability to punish those who foolishly reject His blessings. You and I make the decision as to how the all-wise, eternal God will react to us. If we choose to follow, we are blessed by His grace. If we choose to disobey, we have only ourselves to blame.