Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God;
Deuteronomy 28:1-2 NKJV
God is telling this to the Israelites through Moses. He is promising to bless them if they will obey Him. The first 14 verses of Deuteronomy 28 talk about all the blessings God will bestow on the Israelites if they just obey Him. In return for their obedience, He promises blessings. In verse 15, however, God tells them if they do not obey many curses will come upon them. The curses go on for 52 more verses, from verse 16 through verse 68.
Now many people like to discount the Old Testament as merely history and consider it to be not that important. I see the Old Testament as a learning tool. We can look at these poor Israelites who messed up over and over and learn a thing or two from them.
In the Old Testament we see the Israelites follow a pattern of disobedience, being punished, crying out to God, being restored and forgiven and doing well for a while and then starting all over again. But the saddest thing for me is when I realized my life had followed that same pattern.
I had just thought God would bless me because I was so special. I didn’t think my willful disobedience to His commands would be such a big deal. The Israelites were God’s chosen people, and He didn’t tolerate their disobedience, so I’m not sure why I thought this.
We are clearly told in 2 Peter 2:4, “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;” If God did not tolerate the sin of the angels, what makes any of us think He will tolerate our sin.
We are told in Hebrews 10:26 if we go on sinning deliberately after knowing the truth we have no sacrifice for our sins, but just a terrifying expectation of judgment and a fire about to consume the adversaries.
If you read on in 2 Peter 2, however, it mentions how Noah and 8 people were saved when God brought the flood to destroy the wicked. It speaks of how God rescued Lot when He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. In verse 9 it says, “God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.
God knows how to deal with our disobedience. It will be punished. We are clearly told in Leviticus chapter 26 and Deuteronomy chapter 28 that God will bless obedience but punish disobedience.
We all face many temptations on a daily basis, but we are told in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that no temptation has overtaken us except which is common to man. Everyone faces temptation. But God is faithful, he is there for us. He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to handle. And when we are tempted, He will make a way of escape for us so we will be able to withstand it.
We all are tempted to disobey God. We have to make a conscious decision to obey to disobey. Those are our only two choices. Trust in God and obey His word and we will do well.
Don’t be surprised, however, if you disobey and suffer consequences.
And then of course, there is Job, a righteous man who suffered great loss. Job was tested, but after he passed the test, God blessed him greatly.
Are you obeying God’s word? Are you living a life that makes your Christianity obvious to others? If not, repent and turn to God today. He wants to bless you, but he will not overlook your disobedience. The choice is yours.
Have a great day!