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CURSES BRING DEATH WITHOUT DIGNITY
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1
Deuteronomy 28:16-20

Ezekiel 5:13-17

 

“…I will bring the sword upon thee.

I the LORD have spoken it.”

 

CURSES BRING DEATH WITHOUT DIGNITY
 
Deuteronomy 28:16-20 continues to paint a sad picture of what curses will bring as a result of disobedience. The city and the field were vital places that offered home and food. When God was obeyed, there was comfort and satisfaction. However, with a curse there was no shelter or grain. Children and cattle would be decimated by diseases. The Lord would send these as punishment.
 
Though man sometimes wishes a curse on others as vengeance for grievous sins, man has no power to carry out that punishment. Such punishment can only come by God’s permission. The nature of curses that come due to general disobedience is explained. The plants and trees of the field and livestock would not yield anything. There would be no harvest of fruits or grain, nor milk or meat from the domestic animals. Their offspring and their animals were cursed. This would be sad because all their labour would be in vain. Their everyday activities would be cursed in their going out and coming in because they had forsaken the Lord.
 
Their health would be greatly affected as the Lord said that He would make pestilences cleave unto them until they were consumed. That is, God would punish their evil doings with deadly epidemics which they would not have a cure for, and they would be destroyed. In addition, there would be no rain and they would be given to their enemies. Everyone accepts that only God can give rain in the seasons that He has ordained. He can also use the calamity of drought to punish people who turn away from Him. Victory in war also cannot be taken for granted. God’s people can only fight in a just war and the outcome is in the hands of the Lord. However, if Israel forsook the Lord, He would give them to their enemies. There is nothing more painful than to be a victim of war. Sin brings such chastisement. Obedience to the Lord alone can bring blessings.
 
THOUGHT: Crying to God brings hope in calamity.

PRAYER: Father, may I always be inclined to heed Thy warning.

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