Deuteronomy 28:1-68
28:1 Let's look at this verse and highlight the key word:
"Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth."
Our greatest asset in life is our diligent faith. God raises, encourages and instructs His children to be meticulous, observant, hard-working and perceptive individuals. For God teaches us to understand that our time on earth is limited but that the impact we can make while here is not. Love, justice, truth and even life is infinite and so is the spiritual child.
The children of Israel are about to enter into a new land, a promised land, a Garden of Eden part II in a sense. God has a plan, a philosophy which, when applied to life, will keep the land pure and safe. To be diligent observers of the faith, the Israelites need to keep God's will in every action, interaction and thought. Moses implores them to keep righteous intention at the forefront of every thing that they do.
If we truly wish to walk by faith rather than sight, 2 Corinthians 5:7, we cannot do so with one (figurative) eye open. Either we are committed or we are not; diligence in our lifestyle defines how committed we are. And we do, indeed, want to walk by faith rather than sight because we can read it here, God delivers: the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
28:2 Moses prophesies over the Israelites and over anyone who will have this diligent faith: God's blessings will come to you and overtake you. He will pour blessings into your life, so many that you become overwhelmed by them. Consumed by His love. Not only that, God's love will overtake you when something else tries to. When something else tries to claim you or consume you, God's love will tear you away from that thing. Nothing has control over you: not fear, not enemy, not tribulation because God has overtaken you.
28:3 God's blessings are comprehensive and the abound. They echo and increase in a continuous flow. God protects you, your family, your home, your city, your country. God's blessings in your life will be more concentrated because your faith is concentrated. Perhaps your family, your city or your country's faith is not as concentrated as yours... He still sees every detail. He's working it all together for your good, Romans 8:28.
28:4 God is blessing every detail. Through your diligent faith, the faith you apply to every aspect of your life, God ensures that you produce good fruits. The work of your hands will be good. What you produce in the world will be good and will yield good returns, abundantly.
28:5 You think a God who has counted every hair on your head (Luke 12:7) and named every star (Psalm 147:4) cannot see the details of your life? He is blessing your basket and bowl, your sowing and your reaping. Once you have entered into a committed and diligent relationship with Him, He is blessing every detail.
28:6 He is orchestrating everything that comes into and out of your life (sometimes blessings are not something He gives but something He takes away). Every step you take is cherished by Him, because He knows you endeavor for good. We declare that we are endeavoring toward good when we walk along His path. He has laid the cobblestones and set the direction, we need only walk, live in His name.
28:7 God's love over you will send enemies scrambling away. The irony is that in order to have that fierce protection, you need only be a gentle soul. God does the heavy-lifting, when we do the diligent listening and following. He is our shield. He's like an electric mosquito wand... zap, zap, zap as soon as they enter our sphere.
Do we trust Him? Because sometimes God starts zapping something, someone, or some situation and we grip onto it/them. If God is sweeping the table, let the table be cleared. Trust that He sees something you do not.
28:8 There are no limitations to His blessings: "The Lord will command the blessing on you... in all to which you set your hand." The doorknob to our home. The handle to our refrigerator. The skin of the fruit we eat. The hands we shake. The children we hold. The water we wash with. You do not have to imagine God in all of those places and moments because He is present already in each of them. Or at least He will be, as soon as you enter into a diligent relationship with Him.
28:9 God is faithful, diligent and committed to His children. He is never the one who backs out or changes the plan. He is never the one who loses focus. He is never the one who falters. He never doubts. He never fails. God established with covenant with the Israelites and He offers it to you, through Jesus' teachings read of this in the New Testament. He wants to enter into a relationship with you... one in which He provides everything even though we provide so little or nothing at all. He only asks for our diligence. He only asks for steadfast diligence in faith.
28:10 You are a walking testimony of His love. Through your steadfast, diligent faith, the rest of humanity can see His workings in you. The exuberant joy and hope He pours into you will shine and declare the goodness of His love. Enemies will fear the holy shield around you and others will be awestruck.
God's children are representations of Him; it is only fair that we represent Him well and honestly. In order to do that, we need the diligent faith which creates patience, justice and compassion inside of us. The blessings in our lives will draw others toward Him -- that is the most precious gift we could ever give God: through our love of Him, bring more of His children home.
He longs to gather each of us back into His hands:
Luke 15:1-7 Parable of the Lost Sheep + Luke 15:11-32 Parable of the Lost Son
God goes on an elaborate, passionate journey to find each child. He is so in love, so devoted to each soul that he seeks after us. We read throughout the Bible that we must knock for Him to answer. We learn from Revelation 3:20 that God is knocking at our door, too. Actually, He's banging on the door... He's hoping you will answer. His love for you is not passive, it is alive. When you open the door, the whole world will be able to see the Light that is shone into your life.
28:11 Plenty. Increase. Produce. Circle these words, underline them, highlight them... not just on the pages of your Bible but on your heart. God will fill your life to the brim, your blessings will spill over in abundance. God's blessings propel us toward more blessings. God's blessings enable us to produce more blessings intended for others.
28:12 "The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand." Diligent faith in God will peel away the barrier around your life and expose you to the produce of heaven. To the figurative rains which bring relief and possibility to our desert wilderness.
God becomes the source of all that we need. Under His wing and direction, we need never borrow anything from anyone because it has already been provided by Him.
28:13 God will establish you as a leader rather than a follower. Examine Moses himself: Moses thought the idea of himself as a leader was ridiculous. Not only did he not believe in himself, he had no particular yearning to lead. God has a perfect way of transforming us; tailoring us and our circumstances and changing our direction, our purpose and our abilities for influence we never even dreamed of. But we must take His direction diligently.
28:14 Reading these pages of times long ago, we forget that this is a man speaking. A human, just like us. We can imagine Moses coming to the end of this discourse with a softened, pleading voice. As if he just took in a breath and released and softly spoke this last verse: So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
Moses has given ample reason and blessed encouragement for us to follow God. Steadfastly. Diligently. Moses is invested in our potential to follow Him. God is invested in our lives; He makes bold promises because He has bold love and belief in us. Return that bold love and belief -- after all, He's earned it. He's earned and we have not... yet He still gives and gives and gives.
28:15 Having spoken of the glory God's blessings can bring to your life, Moses now begins to speak about discipline. Moses has dedicated time to speak about diligent obedience and now he will take time to speak about obstinate disobedience. God is our parent and therefore, He parents us. He uses tough-love discipline to teach us to follow His philosophy of life. In order to show us the right way, he allows us to go the wrong way... and to experience how desolate and tiresome that path is.
28:16 Evil actions corrupt city and country. A nation cannot thrive if its principles are in opposition to God. Remember that God's commandments are for us to be kind, just individuals. He does not ask too much of us; He only encourages us to be fair and good.
28:17 Just as our good fruits were a good harvest, our bad fruits are a bad harvest. Evil begets evil. Injustice never brings forth good fruit. Moses' admonishment teaches us that no matter how manipulative or clever we think we are, we will never be fruitful while in opposition to God. The stove is always going to burn when you touch it. It doesn't matter how clever or sneaky you are.
God does not ask us to follow Him for selfish reasons. God asks us to follow Him because He loves us and it hurts Him to see us get burned.
28:18 Anger is a poison, a toxin which ruins the vessel which contains it. Moses explains that a life of evil and deceit will internally corrupt a person as well. The body thrives in light and goodness, so does the soul. But both body and soul perish, slowly, in an atmosphere of evil.
Moreover, God is a balm for our fear and anxiety. Without a way to dissipate that negativity, it festers in and enfeebles the individual. God does not want that life for you... but He is still going to allow you to choose. Every day we are Adam and Eve. Every day we stand before the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Every day we make the choice... which tree will I eat from?
The tree of knowledge of good and evil is a temptress. It prods us to choose cleverness, manipulation, vengeance, control. But the tree of Life prods us to choose wisdom, submission to nature's good and perfect way, spiritual justice. The tree of life prods us to give control over to God, the One Entity who is able. Because we are deficient. We cannot control everything, not even ourselves or our own thoughts. But God can orchestrate galaxies and worlds and atoms and every detail of your life concurrently.
The tree of knowledge of good and evil seeks control. Control creates disorder, it uproots order and places things and people where greed wants them to be rather than were they should be.
The Tree of Life seeks natural order, organization. Eat from this tree, let God's philosophy be the roots of your life. The source from which you receive nourishment. God puts everything into place.
28:19 Absent of a diligent relationship with God, our coming and goings are unprotected. Our steps are uncharted, our path haphazard and even hazardous.
Moses' imploration on God's behalf is this: This (28:1-14) is how you walk into blessing. And this (28:15-69) is how you walk out of blessing and into desolation. It's that simple.
28:16 Evil actions corrupt city and country. A nation cannot thrive if its principles are in opposition to God. Remember that God's commandments are for us to be kind, just individuals. He does not ask too much of us; He only encourages us to be fair and good.
28:17 Just as our good fruits were a good harvest, our bad fruits are a bad harvest. Evil begets evil. Injustice never brings forth good fruit. Moses' admonishment teaches us that no matter how manipulative or clever we think we are, we will never be fruitful while in opposition to God. The stove is always going to burn when you touch it. It doesn't matter how clever or sneaky you are.
God does not ask us to follow Him for selfish reasons. God asks us to follow Him because He loves us and it hurts Him to see us get burned.
28:18 Anger is a poison, a toxin which ruins the vessel which contains it. Moses explains that a life of evil and deceit will internally corrupt a person as well. The body thrives in light and goodness, so does the soul. But both body and soul perish, slowly, in an atmosphere of evil.
Moreover, God is a balm for our fear and anxiety. Without a way to dissipate that negativity, it festers in and enfeebles the individual. God does not want that life for you... but He is still going to allow you to choose. Every day we are Adam and Eve. Every day we stand before the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Every day we make the choice... which tree will I eat from?
The tree of knowledge of good and evil is a temptress. It prods us to choose cleverness, manipulation, vengeance, control. But the tree of Life prods us to choose wisdom, submission to nature's good and perfect way, spiritual justice. The tree of life prods us to give control over to God, the One Entity who is able. Because we are deficient. We cannot control everything, not even ourselves or our own thoughts. But God can orchestrate galaxies and worlds and atoms and every detail of your life concurrently.
The tree of knowledge of good and evil seeks control. Control creates disorder, it uproots order and places things and people where greed wants them to be rather than were they should be.
The Tree of Life seeks natural order, organization. Eat from this tree, let God's philosophy be the roots of your life. The source from which you receive nourishment. God puts everything into place.
28:19 Absent of a diligent relationship with God, our coming and goings are unprotected. Our steps are uncharted, our path haphazard and even hazardous.
Moses' imploration on God's behalf is this: This (28:1-14) is how you walk into blessing. And this (28:15-69) is how you walk out of blessing and into desolation. It's that simple.
28:20 To forsake God is to forsake life. To forsake life is to choose death. God puts evil to its death, always and inevitably. Evil has no choice but the be extinguished. A selfish lifestyle, a greedy lifestyle, has no purpose in this life or the next. Not only is it regressive but it is damaging.
28:21 Interestingly, when we cling to God, our enemies are afraid of the fierce power of protection shielding us. But when we expose ourselves by walking out of God's shield, plague clings to us. Evil laughs and delights in how foolish we are to leave the Almighty when it is such a blessing to have Him.
28:22 Whatever means it takes to bring evil down, it will be done. Sometimes God's tough-love lessons are generous warnings. Fix your behavior, heal your soul with goodness and the plague will be taken away. What do these plagues look like? They look like the conditions with ail our bodies due to stress, deceit, anger and injustice. A discontented soul.
Some of us suffer from ailments for other reasons, the earth is imperfect and out of order after all. Our air is polluted, our water and even our food. Corrupt nourishment ails us like corrupt action does. But Heaven is not polluted. Heaven reaches down to use our ailments to teach us to draw closer to God. Reach back!
28:23-24 Do not let yourself be trapped outside of the glory of our Abba. No matter who you are, your soul is thirsty for Him. Stop feeding your soul with ash and drink from His living waters, John 7:38.
28:25-26 Without God, we are dependent on our weak and feeble bodies. Without God we are dependent on our limited and tainted perspective. Our enemies and our tribulations without consume us because we render ourselves vulnerable.
28:27-28 If you choose to be weak, God will allow your decision. God's children are equipped by Him with eyes to see and ears to hear. God's children are enabled to view heaven and earth from perches of wisdom and justice. While God's children are excelling through the academy of life, His opposition is corroding and crumbling.
28:29 If the cry in our heart is ever that we do not understand or that we feel overwhelmed by evil, we have not invited Him far enough. For God presides. God prevails. The war is already won, depression is shattered by His triumphant Light.
Do not walk around in darkness and without sight. There is purpose and order here; if you do not see it, it's time to welcome Him deeper into your soul.
28:30 Every relationship, social, familial, romantic, spiritual.. every single relationship we enter with an unfaithful heart will only ever return unfaithfulness back to us. A divided house cannot stand, Matthew 12:22-28. Every thing you do with corruption in your heart will only yield corruption in your home.
If you are divided, unstable, unfocused you cannot possibly stand. God wants you to understand that. Moses does not highlight our weaknesses to demean us or to discourage us... Moses highlights our weakness to present to us our need of God. He is the strength for our frailty.
28:31-32 Your family, your livelihood... all that is yours will suffer because of evil actions. Only that which is under the wing of God can be shielded. Life selflessly: be your best, if not for yourself or your neighbor then for your family.
28:33 Before the Israelites enter the promised land, God has their enemies building and tending to their cities, farms and livestock. Ironic, right? It is written here: if you treat life with injustice, life will treat you with injustice.
28:34 The discontentment and anxiety that comes with injustice will taunt and destroy. Some people spend their entire lives on chasing new wealth, new material, new power, new beauty... and none of it ever satisfies. And even a fool, who convinces themselves that their wealth makes them happy, suffers when this world is revealed to be temporary habitation.
While we are busy accumulating and storing our treasures here on earth, we are leaving our coffer empty in heaven. This is problematic because Matthew 6:19-21 explains that only the treasures we store in heaven are kept and protected. Mark 10:25 explains that material wealth cannot even be brought into heaven. The only thing we can bring to heaven are the good fruits we produced while on earth. The joy we created is pumped into us, surrounding us, in heaven. The smiles we inspired are given back. The laughter and companionship and truth and compassion. Those are the treasures we bring to heaven.
So do not be driven mad by need for material wealth and power... none of it matters anyway.
28:35 You will not even be figuratively ambulatory when in opposition to God: you get nowhere! You make no progress. Your path is regressive. Your path, your steps, your mind... all of is it distracted and halted.
28:36 In this verse Moses begins to prophesy the Israelite's journey: they will turn away from God. The children of Israel will become discontented with a spiritual King and will request a human, man king. From there, they will begin to idol worship.
28:37 The turn away from God will cause the children of Israel to become a cautionary tale of what happens when one starts living in opposition to God.
28:38-39 Their efforts will not be productive outside of God. This verse is a predecessor to Luke 8:4-8.
The Parable of the Sower
4 And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. 8 But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.”When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
28:40 That which is not planted in God's metaphorical soil will wither. Inevitably. What is produced will be vulnerable to other corruption. Those who live in opposition to God are unable to be anointed by Him, blessed and sent out on a guided, protected journey.
28:41 The children of Israel, through their abandonment, will also abandon their Safe-Keeper. They will make themselves vulnerable to enslavement again. Figuratively, by not gripping onto God and His philosophy, we make ourselves vulnerable to enslavement. Our desires and fears and worries become our slave-keepers.
28:42 God gives an inheritance to His children, one that cannot be taken away by any enemy. Outside of God, locusts, enemies, tribulations will rob what belongs to an individual.
28:43 The children of Israel will lose their position as leaders and instead will become followers of others.
28:44 The children of Israel will lose their position as lenders and instead will become dependent on others.
28:45-46 And these events will destroy the Israelites, and any individual, eventually. The children of Israel have a reputation for having a strong God, their poor behavior will cause outsiders to question His validity. But remember, life does not have to be this way. There is clarity, healing, strength and love on God's path.
28:47-48 When we neglect to have joy and gladness of heart for the abundance God is able to bring into our lives, we leave that abundance vulnerable to a vacuum. It all goes away. Without His protection and boundless source of provision, we run out.
28:49-51 Without God's barrier of protection, we are completely bulldozed by the outside world. Under His wing of compassion, we ensure that our friends, family and even nation is secured in kindness and justice in principle. But when we allow other forces into our lives, when we allow anger and injustice and other elements of evil in, they eagerly take control.
28:52-57 These verses go into detail about a desperate and terrible people. Evil begets evil and God promises that abandonment of His principles will allow evil to fester. An unappreciative and unhappy population will consume the Israelites... they will become that horrible nation. But it does not have to be that way.
28:58-63 Moses explicit warns that abandonment of God is self-destruction. When we open our hearts and minds to God's teaching, when we allow His philosophy to fill our soul, so much wisdom can be discovered and utilized. Progress can be made! Purpose can be established and fulfilled. A life separate from God, however, is regressive, destructive and even depressing.
28:64-68 Submission and obedience to God grants us true and lasting freedom. Obstinate opposition to God makes us vulnerable and likely candidates for enslavement. Enslavement to things like fear, anxiety, chaos, confusion, discontentment, insecurity.
We must all stop putting our trust in anything other than God. Only He can accomplish on our behalf. Only He offers protection, pure happiness, and eternal comfort. Only He can offer us LIFE... the kind worth living.
28:49-51 Without God's barrier of protection, we are completely bulldozed by the outside world. Under His wing of compassion, we ensure that our friends, family and even nation is secured in kindness and justice in principle. But when we allow other forces into our lives, when we allow anger and injustice and other elements of evil in, they eagerly take control.
28:52-57 These verses go into detail about a desperate and terrible people. Evil begets evil and God promises that abandonment of His principles will allow evil to fester. An unappreciative and unhappy population will consume the Israelites... they will become that horrible nation. But it does not have to be that way.
28:58-63 Moses explicit warns that abandonment of God is self-destruction. When we open our hearts and minds to God's teaching, when we allow His philosophy to fill our soul, so much wisdom can be discovered and utilized. Progress can be made! Purpose can be established and fulfilled. A life separate from God, however, is regressive, destructive and even depressing.
28:64-68 Submission and obedience to God grants us true and lasting freedom. Obstinate opposition to God makes us vulnerable and likely candidates for enslavement. Enslavement to things like fear, anxiety, chaos, confusion, discontentment, insecurity.
We must all stop putting our trust in anything other than God. Only He can accomplish on our behalf. Only He offers protection, pure happiness, and eternal comfort. Only He can offer us LIFE... the kind worth living.
