By: Nancy Wade
15 However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you:
16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.
17 Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.
18 The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.
20 The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.
Deuteronomy 28:15-20
I like to tell the story of my youngest grandson, who – one day after I had scolded him for kicking his older brother – looked at me with somber eyes and a sad face and said quietly, “Mommy said there would be consequences.” His comment immediately caught my attention and his serious countenance made my heart hurt.
“What do you mean?” I asked him. “What happened?”
“Mommy got mad at me one day and she said there would be consequences.”
Now, his face took on a more sorrowful appearance.
I had to ask the question. “Easton – what are consequences?”
He paused and looked down before answering me. His lower lip quivered.
“I don’t know,” he said with a deep sigh. “They haven’t happened yet!”
Being a Grandma, I quickly gave him a hug and told him not to worry, that everything would be okay.
The verses in Deuteronomy, when I first read them, took on an equally somber tone. The reader will be destroyed and come to sudden ruin simply for forsaking God?
Really?
Like a good parent, the writer of Deuteronomy yearns for compliance to the laws of God. He yearns for obedience to the rules that have been laid out. He may be tired of witnessing self-destructive behavior and disobedience. And so he warns the people:
There will be consequences.
If Easton’s Mommy laid out specific consequences for bad behavior, he must have missed that part of the message. His small mind was spinning to a dark place, just thinking about what a consequence could possibly be.
The writer of Deuteronomy spells out all the ways we may be cursed for our failure to follow God’s commands and decrees. We have a roadmap. All we need to do to avoid the consequences of disobedience is to follow that map.
Our dearest God,
We understand your disappointment in us when we stray from your path. The consequences of our disobedience are set out so clearly and yet there are times when we are unable to comply. Help us to honor your laws and rules so that we may stay within your grace. Amen.
