Mon.’s Devo - The Curses of Disobedience

Read: Deuteronomy 28:1-68; Luke 11:14-36; Psalm 77:1-20; Proverbs 12:18 God’s desire was to bless them. His blessings came with one stipulation - they had to fully obey the Lord and carefully keep all his commands. If the obeyed God’s laws, their towns and fields, children and crops, herds and flocks bruit baskets and breadboards would be blessed. Everywhere they went and whatever they did would be blessed. The Lord would conquer their enemies when they attacked and you would have more than enough to eat. All the other nations would look on them with envy and awe. They would produce many children and God would bless them with rain out of His rich treasury. Their work would be blessed so that they would never need to borrow from other nations. They would be the greatest nation of all. If they refused to listen to the Lord and did not obey all the commands and decrees that God was given them that day, then the total opposite would happen to them. God would strike them with wasting diseases, fear, and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought and with blight and mildew. They would be defeated by their enemies and the boils of Egypt would come on them. They would experience mental illness, blindness and panic. The would experience heartbreak, lack, loss, and oppression. They would eventually be exiled to a nation who worshipped idols. They will not understand you and mock you. Your children would be led into captivity and your enemies will become stronger than you. You will become the lender. A nation who doesn’t respect the elderly or the young will control you. The hearts of their people would become hard so that a mother would eat her own offspring. Indescribable plagues would come without any relief or cure. The same God who found such pleasure in blessing them would now find pleasure in destroying them. Life would turn to fear and dread. In Luke, Jesus cast out a demon from a Jewish man who couldn’t speak. The scribes and Pharisees had to give an answer for how he did this because it was getting out of their control They proclaimed that he did this by the power of Satan. Others tried to get Jesus to show them a sign from heaven that he had the authority to do such things. Jesus told them that any kingdom divided by civil war was doomed. He spoke about Satan’s kingdom but he was really referring to theirs. They thought they were from the Kingdom of God and were the keeper of His laws but if they had been, they would have recognized Him as sent from heaven. Jesus told them that the only sign they would get from heaven would be the sign of Jonah. He was referring to his resurrection. Their spiritual eye had been darkened and they were blind but a person who has the light of God is radiant and has no dark corners. Lord, may we obey all of your laws and desires and have no dark corners. May our hearts be full of light.