Day 079 (Deuteronomy 28-29) - Year 8

Today, we drop back in on Moses as he's reviewing the blessings and curses portion of the

covenant.

He reminds the Israelites of the blessings that await them if they obey God.

He will give them victory and battle, and Moses even says God will command his blessing

on them.

Blessings go where God tells them to go, and he promises to give the things only he can

give, life, growth, and reign.

When that happens, the people around them will take notice that there seems to be a unique

blessing on this nation state.

Because of God's very evident protection and provision, these other nations will be

afraid of the Israelites, because nothing is more terrifying than when your enemy is thriving.

When Israel thrives, they'll lend to their neighbors in need.

And remember, their neighbors here are their enemies.

Neighbor isn't just some word to suggest friend.

The surrounding nations oppose them and don't follow Yahweh.

All of these blessings will follow them if they follow God.

If they don't follow God, the curses will come.

And wow, they sound terrible.

Covenant curses were typically not just the absence of blessing, but the complete reversal

of blessing.

So you may have noticed those parallels.

For example, the blessing would have them be victorious over their enemies who would scatter

in seven directions, but the curse would have them losing to their enemies while they

scattered in seven directions.

That's how covenants were typically written, a complete reversal of outcome for blessings

and curses.

That's one reason why some of these verses might seem extra harsh, but they're more of

a demonstration of covenant language than of character.

For instance, 2863 says, as the Lord took delight in doing you good in multiplying you,

so the Lord will take delight in bringing room and upon you and destroying you.

This is typical covenant language, and it's the opposite of what we've seen about God's

character and how he regards his people.

He doesn't delight in harming them.

We heard some harsh words from Moses today, but first of all, this conversation isn't over

yet.

And second, we have to remember what we've learned about God so far from the other times

Moses has discussed God's relationship with these people.

It's the urge to isolate this text and build theology around something taken out of the

greater context.

Remember, day 53, when we learned in Leviticus 26 that God will be faithful even when his

people are faithless?

He will pursue them even when they go astray.

In these other passages where Moses is covering the same thing he covered here, we've seen

that God only sends the bad in order to bring about good in the end.

And remember, we don't want a God who lets us rebel without consequence.

We want a God who will call us back to him when we stray.

And that's exactly the kind of God Yahweh is.

Not a God of punishment, but of discipline and protection.

His discipline protects us from the far greater harm we would bring on ourselves and others

if we continued in rebellion unchecked.

As I was reading through some of the curses, a lot of it reminded me of Job.

One of the things we learned there is that you can't always look at someone's struggles

and determine the reason for them.

It's not always because of disobedience.

In fact, for Job, those things happen to him because of his righteousness.

And we know that because that's what God said before the whole thing started.

And for the Israelites, God is telling them how things will work with them, but these

curses will be a result of disobedience to the covenant he's made with them.

We can't always look at our own circumstances and make a determination about what God is

doing or why.

It's an opportunity to trust him and lean in, regardless of what's happening.

Because if our struggles are the result of sin, then repentance is what our hearts need.

And if our struggles aren't the result of sin, then his nearness will still be a comfort

to us regardless.

As Moses wraps up the blessings and curses, he urges all the Israelites to keep this covenant.

It's not just a covenant with the leaders.

It's with everyone from the greatest to the least, including the foreigners and so-journers

living among them and even the Israelites who are yet to be born.

He reminds them of all the things God has done for them.

He rescued them from slavery, provided them with food and clothes, gave them victory over

bigger and greater enemies, and he has even given them sland already where the 2.5 tribes

live.

Moses warns everyone against thinking they might be the exception to the rule.

He warns against an unrepentant heart and against presuming upon God's grace.

He encourages them to just do what God has shown them through revealed things, and trust

God with the rest, the secret things.

But Moses knows these people well, and in 29-4, he says, to this day, the Lord has not

given you a heart to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear.

Moses knows they will rebel.

Most commentators even say that's probably why he spends so much more time with all

the curses than with the blessings, because it's so heavy on his heart, so he's imploring

them to obey.

But spoiler alert, they don't.

Moses knows this, and God knows this, yet God still chose them to be his people, knowing

all the ways their hearts would rebel against him.

Where did you see your God shot today?

I saw that our God reveals things to his people, but he also keeps some things hidden.

29-29 says, the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed

belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

But he tells us is for our obedience and our joy, but so is what he hides from us.

He reveals things that bring us greater freedom, but whatever he conceals is also for our

good.

It's good that we don't know everything.

It's good that we have to walk in step with him, trusting his goodness.

If I possessed all knowledge, I might exalt myself against God.

Who am I kidding?

I already do that, and I know almost zero.

So by revealing some things to me, he's helping me obey and trust him.

And by keeping some things hidden from me, he's helping me to trust and obey him.

Regardless what I know or don't know, he's out for my good.

And one thing I do know is that he's where the joy is.

I know that when I talk about church, it means something a little bit different for each

of you.

For some, it's a home church of just a few families meeting and worshiping God together.

There's view worship with thousands each week, and some of you are still in the process

of looking for a church.

So I wanted to share my top three things to look for in a church.

Number one, the gospel of Jesus is at the center of it all.

Number two, the Bible is preached in context.

Number three, there are opportunities for authentic connection and community.

We know that finding a church is hard, but it's worth it.

We want you to find a great church, and we'd also love it if your church found us.

If you want your whole church to join us reading to the Bible, check out the BibleRecap.com

forward slash church, or send a link to one of your pastors or church staffers with an explanation

of why you think the Bible Recap would be a great fit for your church.