This Way to Blessing: Deuteronomy 28 (3)

Opening Prayer: Psalm 52.1, 2
Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man?
The goodness of God endures continually.
Your tongue devises destruction,
Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

Psalm 52.1, 2
(Warrington: Give to Our God Immortal Praise)
Why do the mighty boast in sin? God’s love endures, it knows no end!
They with their tongues vain boasts repeat, and like a razor, work deceit.

Today’s Text: Deuteronomy 28.15-24

Preparation
1. To be cursed is the opposite of to be blessed. Why would God curse Israel?

2. What goes along with God’s curse?

Meditation
Human beings are meant to operate according to God’s plan and purpose. This is especially true of those He has set aside for Himself, His holy and chosen people. To them He gave His Law, a kind of “redeemed people’s operating manual.” Follow the instructions of the manual, and they would flourish and abound in blessings, just as God planned.

But set the manual aside, look for guidance elsewhere, or simply make up the rules as you go along, and God’s people were headed for ruin. God told Israel that if they refused to obey His Law, then curses would come upon them and overtake them (v. 15). And the reason for this is that they would have chosen to make their way in life apart from the design and plans of Him Who created life and redeemed them for Himself.

As surely as God would bless their obedience in every area of life, so He would curse them with ruin, confusion, rebuke, trouble, and failure if they set aside His Law (vv. 16-20). This is as true for us today as it was for Israel all those years ago.

To disobey God is not merely a little mistake. It’s wicked (v. 20). Wickedness and its consequences lie beyond the guard rails of love for God and neighbor outlined in the Law of God. Try to live apart from this path, and you’re headed for all kinds of trouble (vv. 21-24). And it will be God Who brings that trouble on you, for this is His way of encouraging you to repent and return to Him. God can even bend the forces of creation against us when we set aside His Law and refuse to be the set-aside and holy people He has called us to be (vv. 21-24).

You can doubt this, reject it, or say it no longer applies. But God, Who does not change, has not changed His mind about this. He has called us to be holy, and that means to listen to, heed, observe, and obey His Word – all His Word, including His Law.

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Lord Jesus Christ:
The Word of God.
The Law of God.
Stand in time’s test.
The same today,
Same tomorrow,
And forever.
The choice is ours:
Be cursed or blessed?
(Deut. 28.1, 2, 15; Heb. 13.8)

Reflection
1. Why would anyone, understanding the blessings God has promised, choose not to seek those always?

2. What causes people to doubt the promises and blessings of God? How can we recognize when we’re slipping into such doubt?

3. God said His people have the potential to be wicked. Do you agree? Explain.

God here pronounces that all their undertakings should meet with ill success; for going out and coming in signifies their various actions, and the whole course of their life; and this is more clearly expressed in the next verse, where He denounces against them misfortune in all their affairs, in that God would confound and mar whatever they should undertake. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Deuteronomy 28.19

Thank You, Jesus, for bearing the curse I deserve for my sins; help me to walk the path of blessing today by…

Closing Prayer: Psalm 52.3-9
Pray that God will turn you away from all wickedness, keep you in the path of His Word, and cause you to be blessed and to flourish in all you do this day.

Psalm 52.3-9
(Warrington: Give to Our God Immortal Praise)
Men more than good in evil delight, and lies prefer to what is right.
They utter words, both harsh and strong, with their devouring, deceitful tongue.

God will forever break them down, uproot, and cast them to the ground!
He from their safety tears them away, no more to know the light of day.

The righteous see and laugh and fear, and say, “Behold, what have we here?
Such are all who at God conspire, and wealth and evil ways desire.

“But as for me may I be seen in God an olive ever green!
Ever in God, most kind and just, shall I with joy and gladness trust!”

Thanks evermore to our Savior be raised! His faithfulness be ever praised!
Here with Your people, loving God, I wait upon Your Name, so good!

T. M. and Susie Moore

Listen to our summary of last week’s study in Deuteronomy by clicking here. You can download all the studies in the series by clicking here. And check out our current ReVision series on encouragement.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from Church Fathers from Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy: Ancient Christian Commentary Series III, Joseph T. Lienhard, S. J. ed. in collaboration with Ronnie J. Rombs, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001). All quotations from John Calvin from John Calvin, Commentaries on The Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Order of A Harmony, Rev. Charles William Bingham M. A., tr. and ed. (Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society, 1863. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).