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A BLESSING AND A CURSE
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
Deuteronomy 11:18-32

Matthew 5:1-12

 

“Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness:

for they shall be filled.”

 

A BLESSING AND A CURSE
 
Blessings and curses are rewards and punishments as a result of one’s relationship with God. Their application comes as God determines. A nation would be blessed when they walked in His statutes; and would be cursed when they turned away from Him. Liberalism does not believe in this. To them all things belong in the physical realm. Here, Moses continued to assure Israel what the Lord was able to do for them: “There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you” (Deut 11:25).
 
Moses had sufficient experience in this regard and thus assured Israel more and more that the Lord would do as He had said. Moses himself was not going to enter that land, but he prepared Israel well for the habitation of that land. The occupation of Canaan was later fulfilled under Joshua. When they started off, the Lord confirmed His presence with them by a miracle just as He did when they left Egypt. The whole Exodus was a miracle. The daily provision of manna and meat was a constant reminder that God was with them. The pillar of cloud and fire was a clear manifestation of God’s presence. Even their clothes and shoes did not wear off during the forty years they travelled in the wilderness. There was no natural water source for them, but the Lord provided water for them. They had all their basic necessities provided for, and they lacked nothing, only their depraved nature blinded them from seeing the abundant blessings of the Lord.
 
God set before them a blessing and a curse. This was how Moses declared it: “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day…” (Deut 11:26-28).
 
THOUGHT: The LORD God blesses His own.

PRAYER: Father, may I seek Thy blessings by my obedience.

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