Follow God and Blessings Abound
The West Has Forgetting God
Deuteronomy Chapter 28 tells us of the blessings for the nation of Israel if they follow God’s law and the curses for ignoring them. These same blessings and curses are still in effect today for any nation which follows God or ignores him.
It does not take much reading to see the parallels. Both in the blessings and in the curses. We can see that God still enacts these blessings for nations that follow his commands. This applies even though we are in the New Covenant, with Christ being the last sacrifice. God’s moral law still stands and we must not reject it.
Looking out at Western society, we see the curses unfolding before our eyes. Some of them are in full force while God’s merciful hands stay with others. If we want our children to receive the blessings God promised, we must return to Him and follow his commands.
What It Means To Be Cursed
But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: (Deuteronomy 28: 15, KJV)
Before we break into the curses God which tells us he sends to disobedient nations, let’s be sure we know what the word cursed means since it’s used often in these passages.
The Hebrew word for cursed is Strong’s number H779 and means “to execrate”. So what does execrate mean? The Webster’s 1828 Dictionary shares:
Literally, to curse; to denounce evil against, or to imprecate evil on; hence, to detest utterly; to abhor; to abominate.
This Webster’s 1828 Dictionary also tells us that the word is from the Latin word execror which is formed from ex and sacer. Sacer being Latin for sacred and so `execror` would mean ex-sacred or no longer sacred.
The Consequences of Ignoring God
Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. (Deuteronomy 28:16, KJV)
Are we not seeing cities destroyed? Take 2020 when riots broke out across the nation and destroying everything in their path. And the fields where we produce food is getting bought by other countries or even burned down.
Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. (Deuteronomy 28:17, KJV)
Look at our stores with empty shelves. Look at the items which were always available and now hard to find. When the food exists, inflation is making it difficult to afford it in good quality.
Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. (Deuteronomy 28:18 KJV)
The fruit of our bodies refers to the womb and child bearing. This too is true for many nations, as we see a decline in birthrates of the founding people of many Western nations. The next part of the verse fits in with the last.
The rest of the verses tell us about being cursed going in and out, how pestilence will cleave unto us
The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. (Deuteronomy 28:22, KJV)
The warning in verse 22 around fevers and inflammation sounds a lot like the massive amount of chronic disease we see in the United States. Also, in verse 27, we hear the Lord warning of other health related curses.
The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. (Deuteronomy 28:27, KJV)
Then we read in verse 33 how the fruit of the land and our labor will not be ours to eat but other nations will swallow it up. This reminds me of the massive amount of financial aid the United States gives away at the expense of the people. It’s used to help and feed others while there are people in our own country starving and without shelter.
The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway: (Deuteronomy 28:33, KJV)
The Blessing of Following God’s Commands
The beginning of Deuteronomy 28 spells out all the blessings that the Lord gives to those that follow his commands.
And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: (Deuteronomy 28:1, KJV)
In verse 2, we see the phase “and all these blessings” before God lays out the blessings which come by following His commands. The Strong’s concordance says this phrase in Hebrew means:
Benediction; by implication prosperity. (Strong’s H1293)
These blessings follow exactly with what we outlined above, but instead of all those areas being under a curse, God blesses them for our good and prosperity.
God tells us he will bless our cities and fields. He’ll bless the fruit of our body, the ground, and cattle. Along with our basket, our stores and storehouses. The Lord will also cause our enemies to be smitten, and they will flee seven ways. (See Deuteronomy 28:1-15)
Our Duty as Christian Men
Q. 3. *What do the Scriptures principally teach?*
A. The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.
(The Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 3)
The Bible contains our duty as Christian men and if we are to be blessed by God, we must pick up where those before us dropped the ball. We must read the word of God and follow the commands of God.
We must, like King Josiah, lament, pray, and plead. Because the “wrath of God is kindled against us,” since “our fathers have not hearkened unto the words,” of the Bible “to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.”
“And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.
And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king’s, saying,
Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great [is] the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.” (2 Kings 22:11-13 KJV)
We need to repent of our sin and direct our families to follow God’s commands. We are the protector but also the priest and theologian of the family. Families create culture and steer the nation. Christian families must take up this job again and form a culture pleasing to God.
The family was the first organizational structure created by God and is the dominant entity for turning our nations back to following the commands of God.
Though these blessings and curses are on nations, it starts with us, our wives, and our children. We must play the long game by creating families, serving God, and building communities of Christian families.
It’s time to stand and say with Joshua:
“… but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15 KJV)
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