Sell Out To God

Deuteronomy 28: 1-2  and 15 – If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:

… However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you:

Moses left them with two choices.  They could obey God...and reap a bounty of wonderful blessings….  OR…they could disobey him and choose for themselves curses upon curses. The list of blessings was great…God opening Heaven to anything and everything they needed…so many things that the other pagan nations around them would see he had called them to be his people.

The list of curses was extensive.  As I read it….many of the things Moses told them seemed to be a normal part of life in my world. Destruction of all types…diseases of all kinds…some that caused tumors… some with no cures. I quickly wondered…even voiced a quick question in prayer form to God.  Is this what is happening to the world he created in 6 days?

I know there are people in the world obeying God because I see pockets of blessing all around me too. But that’s also where the truth of Moses words ring true as well. Good…Godly…obedient people suffer every day. My mind asks the question…do they also harbor some secret sin for their lives to seem so cursed?  Are these words to every individual today…or were they just for the Israelites?

Perhaps when Jesus came to fulfill the law contained in this part of the Bible…the logistics of this passage changed…but that still leaves me with tons of questions about why some Christians suffer. Galatians 3:13 says… “But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."

I choose to believe that the things on Moses ‘cursed’ list that seem to be coming true in our world are not a fulfillment of this scripture…but rather a way of God showing us that he is in control. God allowed satan to bring sadness and disease to Job’s life…simply because he knew that Job’s heart was sold out to God. Then he blessed Job double for showing satan that nothing could pull him away from God’s control.

I also feel deeply  in my heart that we are smack in the middle of many of the end time prophecies. Its gonna get worse before Jesus comes back to make it all better for all who believe. I needed the reminder to keep my heart and mind focused on God…the sacrifice his son made to give me eternal life…and to use the Holy Spirit to help me stay focused like Job when trials come my way.

Father…thank you for the reminder that You are my power when things around me seem to be hopeless.  Forgive me for the times that I let my heart and mind wander to earthly things and distract me from all that you need me to do.  Help me to stay focused on you …so any trials you allow in my life can be overcome with your power and love guiding my heart.  Amen.