Tues.’s Devo - The Blessings and the Curses

Read: Deuteronomy 28:1-68; Luke 11:14-36; Psalm 77:1-20; Proverbs 12:18 Today we read the whole list of blessings and curses. The curses are the opposite of the blessings. If we read these every day as a nation, I wonder what kind of nation we would have. Who would ever choose the curses? If they obeyed God’s laws and worshipped the Lord alone, God would set them high above all the nations of the world and they would experience all the blessings of God. The list is wonderful and doesn’t leave out one blessing a person could want. They would live prosperously, safely and full of joy and love for one another. Life would be great. But if they refused to listen to God and obey all his commands, all the curses would fall upon them and overwhelm them. They would live in constant want, dread and oppression. Hatred and distrust would rule relationships. Death would be a relief. In Luke, Jesus healed a man that had a spirit of deaf and dumbness. When he began to speak, the Pharisees had to give an explanation because Jesus had just done the third of their requirements of the Messiah. They believed that only the Messiah could heal a Jewish leper, heal a man who was born blind and deliver a man who was deaf and dumb. This was the last one on the list. Jesus had done the others, so as the people looked to the Pharisees to get an explanation they gave Satan the credit. This was when Jesus rejected the Jewish nation. From this time forward, Jesus did not do his miracles in the open but only in houses away from the crowds. He also required that they have faith to be healed or delivered. Jesus identified them as God’s enemies since they were against the son He had sent. Then he schooled them on demons. Demons have to have a person to operate through so when they are cast out of one person, they have to find another living thing to occupy. If they can’t find a human, they will occupy an animal. If a person is delivered from a demon and doesn’t occupy that space with God and His word, the demon will return with a host of other demons. Then the person will be worse off than before. They kept asking Jesus for a sign which you would have to be blind not to see his miracles and hear his teaching and know he was the Messiah. But, they kept asking anyway. He told them that the only sign he would give them would be the sign of Jonah. What happened to him was a sign to the Ninevites. Jonah was resurrected after being dead for three days in the belly of the fish. Jesus would be resurrected after three days in the belly of the earth. The people of Nineveh would testify against the people of Jesus’ day because the people of Nineveh repented. The queen of Sheba would also be a testimony against them because she traveled for miles to hear the wisdom of Solomon and they had one before them with more wisdom than Solomon and they refuse to believe. In the law a person was guilty by the testimony of two witnesses. Jesus explained that how you saw things illuminated your spirit if it was healthy and right, but if it wasn’t then you would be filled with darkness instead. Lord, may the light of your Word and Your Spirit fill us so that we can see the truth. May we walk in your blessings.