Blessed

Monday 25^th August

Read Deuteronomy 28:1-14

“If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands that 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:

³ You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

⁴ 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.

⁵ Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

⁶ You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

⁷ The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

⁸ The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

⁹ The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. ¹⁰ Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you. ¹¹ The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity – in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground – in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.

¹² The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. ¹³ The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. ¹⁴ Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.” (NIVUK)

From the do-nots of the covenant to blessing if you obey! Everywhere (city and country), children and produce assured, each day blessed (come in and go out), defeat of enemies, oversupply in all the land, peace and happiness rule. Most importantly God will establish a holy people (vs9), a people set apart for their God, known by His name and feared (those around awestruck!). Prosperity is promised whereby this people become a blessing to other nations and have ‘leadership’, is that what head not the tail means? Possibly it is another way of saying, the ones to be taken notice of (fear/awestruck). But there is a big ‘if’, this all depends on obeying/ following God commands and not deviating (left or right) to follow the ‘gods’ around you says Moses. Obedience involves listening and responding as a holy people. Yesterday’s reading highlighted the unwillingness of the people to obey, and I read the verses today with sadness as there is the inevitable reality of sin, the people did ‘deviate’, they didn’t listen and therefore there was no desire to represent their Lord and express His character. But Jesus did obey and through Him I can be known as a person who shows a little of the name/character of God, one who seeks not to deviate in trust and desire to represent Him well. However, that walking the narrow road involves listening and responding to His words and His Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus within.

Geoff Hinch