Daily Devotions
Curses & Blessings
Reading for March 2nd: Deuteronomy 28-29
"But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you."
Deuteronomy 28:15
In Deuteronomy 28 God enumerates for his people all of the blessings he will send to reward obedience and the curses that will come because of disobedience to the covenant. The curses far outnumber the blessings. Of the sixty-eight verses in the chapter, fifty-four are curses and only fourteen are blessings. More than that, the curses become much more specific than the generic blessings listed. They also become more intense and painful as you read from beginning to end.
If this seems harsh, understand that these curses are expressions of grace just as much as the blessings are. They are God's way of getting our attention. When we decide we are going to go it alone without God, he gives us the freedom to have it our way. God doesn't keep us from exercising our free will in our selfish rebellion, but neither does he shelter us or withhold from us the curses which naturally come when we try to live our lives independent and autonomous from the One who made us.
Father, do not allow us to live free from your will without consequences! Bring us back to our senses with the harsh realities that come from trying to live our lives apart from you.
