Deuteronomy 11:26 – 32 “See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse— a blessing if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you today, but a curse if you disobey the commandments of the LORD your God and turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.
When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. Are not these mountains across the Jordan, west of the road toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the Oak of Moreh?
For you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you. When you possess and settle it, be careful to follow all the statutes and ordinances that I am setting before you today.”
Sometimes reading Exodus through Deuteronomy seems a bit repetitious. Throughout these books of the Bible, God keeps laying out clear choices for the Israelites: untold blessings if they follow Him and His Word or terrible curses if they do not. Why does God keep repeating Himself? The point is simple: people are slow learners and they would rather choose the easy and expedient than the difficult and rewarding.
“Delayed gratification” is not a term that has ever been very popular. The religion that God is establishing for the Israelites is one that demands self control, obedience, and constancy. There are daily patterns of worship, plus set festivals at particular times of the year. The patterns of worship are designed to help the Israelites remember Who their God is and the greatness of His Power and Majesty. The focus of this worship is God- centered; men are to worship God, to love Him and serve Him for His Goodness. God is promising that when men worship Him, He will bless them.
Most pagan religions also demand festivals and sacrifices, and there are curses for failing to take part in these celebrations. The focus of these sacrifices and festivals is to manipulate the deity into granting the wishes of the people. There is no emphasis on love for these gods, only fear that if they are not propitiated, crops will fail, women will die in childbirth, etc. Failure to appear at a festival at the correct time of the year is alleged to bring terrible curses on the person and their family.
APPLICATION: “What do these marks on this woman’s abdomen mean?” I asked one of our nurses. The year was 1993, and I had recently come to our remote village to work as a doctor. The pregnant lady in question had a series of scars radiating from her umbilicus. “Oh,” the nurse replied, “those marks are a form of magic to help the lady give birth easily.” That was my first time of seeing scarifications; however, I soon became used to the practice. In the ensuing months I learned to identify sickle cell patients by scars over their joints. One small child with seizures from malaria came in with a fresh 2 cm wound below the left eye. The parents had made the wound and had rubbed ashes in it to stop the seizures. Hernia sufferers reported with fresh marks on the skin overlying their hernias.
One pastor friend bearing the name of a traditional god defied his family when he became a Christian, refusing to return home to attend the festivals for that particular god. Other Christian friends have refused to sacrifice to traditional family shrines. For non – Christians, traditional beliefs may cause them to do strange things. This combination of manipulation and fear is very powerful but also something about which people are unwilling to talk.
For the ancient Israelites, God established a religion that would help shape them into a holy nation and a light to those around them. It was never God’s purpose merely to bless Israel but to cause others to see how blessed a nation could be when they followed the One True Living God. In every generation, there were those Israelites who were observant and who were blessed. There were others who went through the motions but whose hearts were not in it.
The question for us today is this: where are our hearts? God still blesses those who will love Him and serve Him. But when we refuse to love or serve God, we remove ourselves from those blessings. What are the blessings God gives? Galatians 5:222 – 23 tells us, “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
Those of us who worship and trust the One True Living God may go through terrible trials. But no matter what happens to us, we still have spiritual blessings. And ultimately, we will have the biggest prize of all: “the peace of God that passes all understanding will keep (our) hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Help us to realize that we gain immeasurably when we seek Your perfect will for our lives and then follow it. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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