As surely as obedience would attract blessings, disobedience would attract curses. Just as the word “shall” is used six times in Deuteronomy 28:2-6 to guarantee the people of God’s blessings when they obey His instructions, the word “shall” is also used six times in Deuteronomy 28:15-19 to indicate the certainly of curses when they chose to disobey Him.
What
is a curse? A curse is defined as an invocation of harm. In these verses, the
curses described here are more than invocations. They would be the unpleasant,
negative, unfortunate, and even evil experiences that they would be subjected
to when they chose to disobey God’s instructions. Deuteronomy 28:15 onwards,
God guaranteed the people of Israel that curses would come upon them should
they choose to disobey Him. Moses is seen here giving an extensive discourse on
the curses of disobedience.
Bear
in mind that at this point, the children of Israel would soon be going into the
promised land. Moses who had led them thus far had been forfeited from entering
the land though he would have desired to lead them in. His forfeiture was a
consequence of not obeying the Lord totally in the water of Meribah described
in Numbers 20:1-13. He knew personally what would happen when one chose to
disobey God. For a person who loved God and had to suffer the consequence of
disobeying Him, we can be sure he would not want the same to happen to God’s
people.
So
Deuteronomy 28:15 onwards we see a series of negative experiences being
described to strongly discourage God’s people from walking in
disobedience. The experiences described in Deuteronomy 28:3-6 were the reverse
of what was described here. Just as God would bless them in every aspect
of their lives when they chose to walk in obedience, conversely, curses would
fall upon them in every aspect of their lives when they chose to walk in
disobedience. They would experience curses in their national life, their home
life, their working life, in their daily living, and even their leisure.
The
day Adam chose to disobey God, a curse had fallen upon all mankind. Thankfully,
God had also promised to reverse the curse through the seed of the woman,
meaning Christ Jesus. Today, a protective hedge has been placed over our lives
when we make Jesus the Saviour, Lord, and Master of our lives. And He has called
us to walk in obedience to enjoy His continual protection. Disobedience will
leave us vulnerable because it will break the protective hedge over us.
But when we walk according to His Word, we walk under His protective hedge.
That would avert the curse that had fallen on mankind. Don’t break the protective
cover by walking in disobedience! Choose meaningful life with Him every day!
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