Day 18: Do you live in the full blessing?

From the beginning of human history, sin has always been followed by the curse and always will be. What is included in this curse for the broken law ? There's one chapter in the Bible which tells us very exactly and completely. It's Deuteronomy, Chapter 28. It contains, first of all, all the blessings for obeying the law, then all the curses for breaking the law. We look briefly at the blessings first. Deuteronomy 28, verses 1 through 6:

“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 on high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: [Now, these are the blessings] You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock, the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.” (NIV)

Those blessings are total. They cover every area of the life of the person who's obedient.

A little further on we begin to see the curses. Deuteronomy 28, verses 15 through 22. Again, I'm only going to be able to give you a kind of brief selection. I recommend you to study this more fully for yourself. Deuteronomy 28, verse 15 and following:

“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 upon you and overtake you: You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. 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. You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. 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. [Now listen, we're still reading the curses]. The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish.” (NIV)

I would say this is a summation of these curses: humiliation, mental and physical sickness, family breakdown, poverty, defeat, oppression, failure, and God's disfavor. Those are all the curses for the broken law.

Now, in the light of that list, that summation, let me ask you. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, could it be that you are enduring curses instead of enjoying blessings? Could it be that you've never realized what Christ accomplished for you on the cross when he redeemed you from all the curses of the broken law and made open to you all the blessings of his obedience. I suggest to you to ponder and ask yourself that question. Am I enduring curses when I should be enjoying blessings?