"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. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD you God... However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not follow all His commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you..."

Deuteronomy 28:1-2; 15, NIV 

 

The 28th chapter of Deuteronomy is a blueprint for a successful nation. It is also the promise of a failed nation, should her people ever turn away from God.

 

The 28th chapter of Deuteronomy reveals the blessings that God promised to bestow upon Israel, if she would only obey Him. They would be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. Their crops, their land, their cattle - everything they had, would be blessed. God promised them that if they would but obey His voice that He would protect them from all of their enemies.

 

He further told them that they would be the head and not the tail, that they would lend to many nations but borrow from none. In short, if they remained obedient to God, God would make them the greatest nation on the face of the earth. He said:

 

"The LORD will establish you as His holy people, as He promised you on an oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you. The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity..." Deut. 28:9-11, NIV 

 

Then God gave them this warning: If they rejected His commands and refused to walk in His ways, He would curse them. He would curse them so thoroughly that they would be cursed in the city and in the country. Their crops, their land, their livestock - everything they had, would be cursed. God promised them that if they would not obey Him that he would not protect them from any of their enemies.

 

Furthermore, God let them know that they would become the tail and not the head, that they would borrow from many nations, but lend to none. In short, if they failed to keep all of God's commands, He would make them the most cursed nation on the face of the earth.

 

Do you think that God treats nations any differently today? 

 

In the country I live in, America, we began as a Christian nation. We identified ourselves by the name of the Lord. We sought God's commands and He blessed us. Today it is a different story. We actually have a President who boasted that we are no longer a Christian nation. I fear that he may be right... but it is nothing to be proud of - it is the greatest shame and the greatest curse that any nation could bring upon herself.

 

I ask the question again, "Do you believe that God will treat the nations any differently today?" Which nation do you live in - the blessed nation or the cursed, the head or the tail, the one who lends to all or who borrows from many? It's something to think about... isn't it? 

 

This is why we read!

 

"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people." Proverbs 14:34, NIV

"In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality." Proverbs 12:28, NIV

 

Today is the 29th day of the Thirty Day Challenge to read through the Books of Moses. The reading for today is Deuteronomy 23-29. May God richly bless you as you seek to find His commands and to obey them!