An Unpopular Message Part 1: Blessings and Cursings

This probably won't be a popular blog post, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't post it. There's a reason our country is in dire straits right now. If we look back over the last fifty plus years, we should've all seen this day coming. Why? Because even though our national monetary debt is astronomical, another national debt is even higher...our sin debt.



America has stacked up sin upon sin, and when you read God's Word you find that if a country chooses to disregard His Word and His Way the resulting consequence is judgment and the removal of His Presence. The opposite is also true. If we obey Him and live according to His Word, He blesses us with all good things, especially His Presence.



If this seems harsh, we need to remember that God is holy. He cannot tolerate sin, especially when He gave His Son's lifeblood to buy us back from slavery to sin and death. Some may think that God won't punish us because of our relationship to Christ. I personally believe that fact makes us more culpable, not less. The following verses spoken to the nation of Israel after God redeemed them from slavery are just as relevant to us today as they were then.



The Reward For Obedience

If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land. I shall also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down with no one making you tremble. I shall also eliminate harmful beasts from the land, and no sword will pass through your land. But you will chase your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword; five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword. So I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm My covenant with you. You will eat the old supply and clear out the old because of the new. Moreover, I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject you. I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would not be their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect. ~Leviticus 26:3-13 (NASB)



The blessings of obedience include:


rain
productive crops
plenty to eat
security
elimination of harmful beasts
no war in the land
removal of enemies
God's face toward us
children
confirmation of God's covenant with us
God dwells with us and doesn't reject us
He walks among us as our God
we are His people

Notice the reminder at the end of the passage. This is their Lord (Master) and their One True God who had delivered them from slavery, breaking their chains, and causing them to walk erect. We cannot deny that God has had His hand on our country, blessing us with prosperity, abundance, peace, security, and especially His presence.



The Punishment For Disobedience

'But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments, if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up. I will set My face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies; and those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you. If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. I will also break down your pride of power; I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze. Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.

‘If then, you act with hostility against Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins. I will let loose among you the beasts of the field, which will bereave you of your children and destroy your cattle and reduce your number so that your roads lie deserted.

‘And if by these things you are not turned to Me, but act with hostility against Me, then I will act with hostility against you; and I, even I, will strike you seven times for your sins. I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute vengeance for the covenant; and when you gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, so that you shall be delivered into enemy hands. When I break your staff of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they will bring back your bread in rationed amounts, so that you will eat and not be satisfied.

‘Yet if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me, then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins. Further, you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you will eat. I then will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols, for My soul shall abhor you. I will lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas. I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it will be appalled over it. You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste. ~Leviticus 26:14-33 (NASB)



The punishment for disobedience include:


sudden terror
a wasting consumption and fever
enemy eating the fruit of our labor
God's face against us
struck down before our enemies
those who hate us rule over us
fear that makes us flee even when no one is chasing us
breaking down of our pride of power
sky that produces no rain
no production
wild beasts that destroy children and herds
deserted roads
war
pestilence
delivered into our enemy's hands
cannibalizing our children
removal of idolatry
God abhors us
cities laid to waste
desolate sanctuaries
desolate land
scattered among the nations

Not a pretty picture is it? In fact, as great as the blessings are, the punishments seem--well, seven times worse. Notice that God gives chance after chance for the people to return to Him, obey Him, and stop acting hostile toward Him. His grace still abounds! We have a choice to make!



It's easy to say: "But what can I do? I'm only one among billions." The answer? We must each start with ourselves. We must humble ourselves before the Lord, asking Him to reveal to us the areas we need to change, and then be obedient to what He shows us. We'll continue this post tomorrow with a look at the national sins our Holy God cannot overlook. (And as God's people we can't afford to get smug about it. The national sin committed is not only by those who don't belong to Him...)



Father God, we humbly come before You confessing our part in the sin that has separated our country from Your presence. We're all guilty, Lord, in some form or fashion, both through direct rebellion and hostility against You and through tolerance, complacency and indifference. God, we also confess that as Your people we've compromised and accepted things that You warned us to stay away from. Help us, Father, to start with a heart check. Reveal those areas in our individual lives that need to go. Grant us the strength to weed out those things that have no place in our lives. Give us the ability to stand for You in the midst of a dark and corrupt world. Help us shine Your light brightly. Amen.