seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Deuteronomy 28:1 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:
This is from blueletterbible.org.
The word "if" looms large. In this chapter, Moses exhorted the nation with choice. The covenant God made with Israel contained three major features: The law, the sacrifice, and the choice.
The idea behind the choice is that God was determined to reveal Himself to the world through Israel. He would do this either by making them so blessed that the world would know only God could have blessed them so; or by making them so cursed that only God could have cursed them and cause them to still survive. The choice was up to Israel.
As a literary form, this chapter is similar to ancient treaties between a king and his people; this is God the King, making a covenant with His people, Israel.
"In the ancient Near East it was customary for legal treaties to conclude with passages containing blessings upon those who observed the enactments, and curses upon those who did not."
As a literary form, this chapter is similar to ancient treaties between a king and his people; this is God the King, making a covenant with His people, Israel.
"In the ancient Near East it was customary for legal treaties to conclude with passages containing blessings upon those who observed the enactments, and curses upon those who did not."
Therefore, if Israel would obey the LORD, He would set them high above all nations of the earth, and the blessings would be so powerful that they would come upon you and overtake you. They wouldn't be able to escape the blessings.
I try to leave the world behind when I study in the morning. This week, however, has been quite unique. First the stand down with North Korea happened.... thankfully..... and then the events unfolded in Charlottesville, VA ... then there were the events in Spain. I might have been able to get past all the violence.... but then it occurred to me that the violence we have all witnessed, thanks to social media, is so divisive.
If God were to say that one side is right and the other is wrong.... which side would He have chosen? Yours, mine, or ours? He would have chosen His Side.... God's Side is Always Right.... no matter what.... if we believe this.... He will shower us with blessings.... not money or gold... these aren't important in the grand scheme of things.... but Blessings. Yesterday God blessed a lot of families with new babies.... Yesterday God blessed a lot of families with the passing of a loved one..... Yesterday God blessed a lot of people with some much needed rain.... and the flood waters cleared a new path and God will bless us all with new beauty....
I was raised that the hierarchy goes "God, family, country". I look at what has happened over the past week or so.... I wonder what my dad would have thought. Dad was in the Navy. Dad fought in WWII and Korea. Dad believed people have rights. Dad believed that sometimes what is right for one man.... isn't what is right for another.... if both believe they are right.... who should step up? Both think they have God on their side.
They say "in heaven there is no beer". I believe that in heaven there is a magnificent beer because the brewers are there and heaven to them is making one magnificent beer after another. So which is right?
We have to consider God..... what would God really have us do? Sometimes what God wants us to do is definitely different from what our family or our country wants.
How many people walk around always choosing to do wrong on purpose?
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