Choose the Blessing

“Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;” - Deuteronomy 11:26

In the book of Deuteronomy, we find Moses is giving his final address to the children of Israel. He takes time to recap some of the history and point out the flaws and consequences they have suffered, as well as some of the great acts that God performed on their behalf. In this eleventh chapter of the book, he is focusing on why the children of Israel should obey God as He reminds them what God has done for them. However, he lets them know that they have the power to choose, and whatever their choice is, there is something that they will reap. This is the choice between the blessing and the curse. 

“A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:” (Deuteronomy 11:27). The children of Israel were promised that they would be blessed if they obeyed God’s commandments. This meant that they would need to be willing to forgo the wants of their flesh and the lusts of their own desires to fulfill the desires of the God who had done such marvelous things on their behalf. They must choose to obey God if they would choose the blessing. 

“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, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.” (Deuteronomy 11:28) If the children chose to fulfill their own desires and to pursue the gods that they could see and hold then God promised that they would be cursed. We see at the end of this verse that it is emphasized that these are gods they had not known. If they turned aside from God, which sadly they did, and embraced these false gods, there was nothing that these gods had done for them before. It was illogical in the face of the historical blessings of God above to turn away from him to these dumb idols that have done nothing and could do nothing. This would be a foolish choice to make.

We, as New Testament believers, have not replaced the nation of Israel. I understand in light of this that not every promise given to the children of Israel is a promise for us today. I do believe that we in this day and age continue to make the same decision that Moses presented to the nation. Will we obey God and experience His blessings, or will we disobey Him and experience the curse of His working against us? If we will make the appropriate decision, there are a few things we must consider.

WE MUST KNOW THE COMMANDS OF GOD

We need to spend time in God’s Word learning what it is that He wants us to do. This is called growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. (II Peter 3:18) The Bible is not an archaic book full of outdated rules and regulations. Rather, it is the written Word of our Creator that is ever alive to instruct us in the ways of righteousness and in the doing of His will. 

WE MUST REMOVE HINDERANCES TO THESE COMMANDS

There are oftentimes things in our life that we need to remove in order to properly obey our Heavenly Father. There are things we should not have, consume, see, or hear that we must remove from the gates of our hearts and home if we would obey God. Sometimes we have friends who hinder us, for they are not going the same direction toward God and thus hinder us in our walk as they pull us the other direction away from God. “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3)

WE MUST NOT ONLY HEAR THE COMMANDS BUT DO THEM

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” (James 1:22) There are many Christians who come to church and put themselves in a position to hear the Word of God preached and taught, yet when it comes to implementing the commands of God into their lives they flatly refuse to do so. These have deceived themselves into thinking they are right with God because they simply go to church. This is not true, God’s expectation is that we be both hearers and doers of the Word.

In the end, the choice is yours to make. If you choose to obey God, you will experience His blessings. If you choose to disobey God, you will reap His curse in your life. Dear believer, I urge you to choose His blessings!