The passage for today’s reading brings to mind the recent event of the resignation of the Pope. In each event, the time had come when one person’s role of service was at an end, and another would take his place. For the Pope, it is a matter of age and inability to continue the tasks. For Moses, though it seems from the text that it is likewise a matter of advanced years (being age 120!), in fact it was much more a matter of God’s plan. All along, the Lord had said that Moses would not pass over the Jordan with the people, and now that the time had arrived for this conquest of the Promised Land, Moses was in his final days of leadership. We will read in a couple of days that Moses’ health and vitality was not that severely diminished, even given his advanced years.

So, speaking in track and field terms, Moses was in the exchange zone – the area in a relay race where the baton is being passed from one runner to another.

Moses says that the Lord God will actually be the first to cross over the Jordan ahead of the nation of Israel, and that fact alone would secure their victory. Joshua would be the leader, and the results were to be just like the recent powerful defeat of the kings on the east of the river in the land of Moab.

We see here the first mention of a series of words that will repeat not only here at the end of Deuteronomy, but also over and over in the first chapter of Joshua. There are two positives and two negatives: be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or discouraged. Both sides of these four attitudes are possible because of God’s faithful word to be with them – granting every reason to be confidant, and every reason to not stress out!

The second section of today’s reading talks about an event to occur every 7^th year in the new land at the Festival of Tabernacles. This annual feast that commemorated God’s faithfulness to the children of Israel through their deliverance from Egypt and preservation through the wilderness wanderings was spoken of earlier in Deuteronomy 16:13-15:

13 Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. 14 Be joyful at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. 15 For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.

The directive of Moses is that, while all of Israel would be gathered at one time for the festival, this would be the best occasion for the leaders to pull out the Law of Moses and have it read for everyone to hear. Obviously, if there was no specific plan for this to happen, it would take very few years for those with memories of these events to die off, and the children who had no such memories to also be unaware of the truths of God’s promises and of the necessity of renewing the covenant. In a time when most people were rather illiterate, and where there were no libraries and no Google search engines on varied communication devices, this event would be critical for Israel’s future. It would require leaders who, even though they could not personally remember Moses or the giving of the Law, still valued it and made the efforts to insure that this tradition was continued.

These thoughts today are full of timeless truths. At Tri-State Fellowship we talk all the time about generational ministry. We say it so much that I often feel like people get resentful that it is such an emphasis. But it has to be! Without it, the natural proclivities of life will result in not being diligent to disciple, love, and encourage younger generations … and truth and biblical values will fall through the cracks of forgetfulness. We need to take the effort to continuously REVIVE – ourselves first, and then those who come behind us to whom we must inevitably hand the baton. We REVIVE by discipling generations to love God, serve one another, and reach the world.

Joshua to Succeed Moses

31:1   Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: 2 “I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’ 3 The Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the Lord said. 4 And the Lord will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land. 5 The Lord will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. 8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Public Reading of the Law

9 So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 Then Moses commanded them: “At the end of every seven years, in the year for canceling debts, during the Festival of Tabernacles, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose, you shall read this law before them in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people—men, women and children, and the foreigners residing in your towns—so they can listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of this law. 13 Their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

This is not as difficult as it seems!

Today’s reading is the third of three that gives the condensed summary of the Covenant Law. Moses’ attention turns again to the future, but now with a positive tone. Yesterday, the text spoke about the time in the future when Israel would be dispersed to captive nations. This happened with the Assyrians and Babylonians, with Israel eventually returning to the land under such as Ezra and Nehemiah. Again they would be scattered in the post-Christ Roman era, only to be re-gathered in our era. And in the millennial kingdom to come, Israel will once again be blessed of God. I know – I just covered a lot of Bible history and prophecy and interpretation there!

Let’s jump to verses 11-20 … you gotta love this!

I believe it is the natural assumption out there that living for God is the hard, difficult choice. And, I suppose, that is true if we allow the natural man to take charge of our appetites and choices. But the simple rejection of that proclivity, along with an obedience to the not-so-complicated dictates of God’s Word, promises success and well-being. It is not convoluted or mysterious. It is all written down for us. As the passage says, the truth leading to success is not hidden in the heavens at a location impossible to reach, nor is it buried in some far-flung treasure island location in a distant ocean. We have every resource that we need within our grasp – and honestly, as modern people with every sort of electronic information device, it is indeed with us in a way it was never with any other generation.

So why should not God call heaven and earth against us as witnesses, as with every generation and people with a knowledge of his Word?  Israel, in this text, has the remembrance of God’s faithfulness to the patriarchs of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And we have not only all of that, but 3500 more years of God’s workings, along with what the writer to the Hebrews calls “the great cloud of witnesses” who can testify to the truth of God’s timeless covenant – life to those who honor and obey, but death and separation to those who choose to not follow the very, very, very clear truth of the Word.

Let us, as God’s people and his church redeemed by the new covenant of the blood of Christ, renew together – especially when together with the bread and cup – the covenant we possess by his grace and revelation in our lives. This is not difficult. This is not complicated. It is the stuff of continuous renewal … of reaffirmed revival.

Prosperity after Turning to the Lord

30:1  When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, 2 and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, 3 then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. 4 Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. 5 He will bring you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors. 6 The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. 7 The Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you. 8 You will again obey the Lord and follow all his commands I am giving you today. 9 Then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors, 10 if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

The Offer of Life or Death

11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

You Know Enough to be Dangerous Successful 

Just as yesterday’s reading focused on the goodness of God and the greatness of blessing in his covenant, today’s section looks at the opposite side of things.

Moses begins by recalling to Israel’s memory all their experiences of seeing the futility of life of the Egyptians and other nations – their worthless gods and idols.  Just.Do.Not.Do.It!  Don’t even let a root of such idolatry be found in Israel.

The second paragraph today speaks to the person who only casually or hypocritically accepted the covenant. Such a person should not think they are in good stead only because they have the right family name or were wearing the proper uniform. There are few better paragraphs in the Bible that reveal what God thinks about hypocrites!  Whoa! It brings down disaster upon such an inconsistent and dichotomous person.

The third and fourth paragraphs talk about the distant future for Israel – projecting how indeed the descendents would turn against God, would worship foreign gods, would find disaster and judgment, and would cause even other nations to stand in amazement that a people might so walk away from God and thus incur his wrath.

And finally, verse 29 is a great summary – probably one of the top 100 Scriptures in the Bible. It says that there are truths known only to God, and that may frustrate us that we don’t understand everything that is going on in the world. But what is revealed and belongs to us is for our good, and for the good of those who come after us – again, as we keep the covenant of his law. What we know is enough to make us successful.

16 You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. 17 You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold. 18 Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.

19 When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,” they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. 20 The Lord will never be willing to forgive them; his wrath and zeal will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven. 21 The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.

22 Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it. 23 The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, which the Lord overthrew in fierce anger. 24 All the nations will ask: “Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?”

25 And the answer will be: “It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. 26 They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. 27 Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book. 28 In furious anger and in great wrath the Lord uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.”

29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

It must have been a terrible experience for anyone – in whatever generation – to be a resident in a city under siege by a more powerful foe. At some point, all the resources run out, and the residents are left to extreme measures – to the extent even of cannibalism.

The passage today is a very graphic one, and thankfully it brings us to the end of the curses. Moses builds to this moment of the worst possible scenario. One would think that this would have been enough to sober Israel into never straying far from obeying God… but, no.

With these verses today, Moses finishes his sermon that delineates a list of consequences to follow for Israel if they do not obey the covenant with God.

Consequence 10 – (verses 49-57) – Horrors of Cities Besieged – I like to think that I can write rather colorfully and creatively … but I could not find words more descriptive than these – nor would I want to. Totally dreadful.

Consequence 11 – (verses 58-68) – The Reversal of all of God’s Blessings – As you look at these items, we are able to recall even from Deuteronomy that every curse listed here is a reversal of some blessing given to the nation in the past.

We cannot assume that just because God blessed our forefathers that he is in some way obligated to do the same for us in spite of how we live. May we be sobered in ways that Israel was not. May we be revived in our faith and commitment.

49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. 51 They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or olive oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. 52 They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you.

53 Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you. 54 Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, 55 and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities. 56 The most gentle and sensitive woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter 57 the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For in her dire need she intends to eat them secretly because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities.

58 If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the Lord your God— 59 the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. 60 He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. 61 The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. 62 You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God. 63 Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.

64 Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known. 65 Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. 66 You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. 67 In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!”—because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see. 68 The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.

As we look back over the scope of human history, and then project toward the future of mankind, there are some sad realities. There is no history of a nation or empire that continuously endured (though God’s preservation of Israel is the most positive example of longevity, which is an ironic thought in consideration of this depressing chapter we are slogging through right now!). All human institutions have failed and come to ruin at some point. There is no science or advance of modernity that will change this pattern. Everyone dies; and there is no science that is going to change that reality. At some point, we know also from the Scriptures that this world comes to an end.

Sorry to be a big downer today, but I’m just talking realities with you. For all of these things and many more in the human condition, it is not a matter of if, but when! But it can be our hope that it will not happen in our lifetime if we have anything to do about it … in positive obedience both by our own personal management, and with the coordination of others also following God’s truth.

The passage we read today presents a subtle change of tone in Moses’ warnings – from “if” they do not obey, to what will indeed certainly happen “when” they do not obey the covenant with God. Continuing the list:

Consequence 7 – (verses 36-37) – Exile to a Foreign Land – This would be fulfilled for the northern 10 tribes in 721 B.C. by the Assyrian Empire. The southern two tribes of Judah and Benjamin would hold out longer until 605 B.C. when taken into exile by the Babylonians.

Consequence 8 – (verses 38-42) – Crop Failure and Economic Ruin – In an agrarian society where wealth was measured more in terms of crops and herds than in currency, the economy was dependent upon the weather and other conditions such as freedom from pestilence. God would take that protection from his people upon their rejection of him.

Consequence 9 – (verses 43-48) – Servitude to Foreign Powers and Occupiers – Throughout Israel’s history – even before the captivities to Assyria and Babylon, the Israelites were at various times plagued by foreign occupiers – like the Philistines, the Midianites, and all the other –ites … not to mention the termites, etc.

Israel, don’t be stupid – just obey!  Tri-State Fellowship, don’t be stupid – just obey!

36 The Lord will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. 37 You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you.

38 You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. 39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. 40 You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. 41 You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. 42 Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.

43 The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. 44 They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail.

45 All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. 46 They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. 47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, 48 therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

As those of you who know me well are aware, I’m much interested and involved in Civil War history, reading, research, and communication. It is very common when reading first-hand accounts of Civil War battles to see the writer talk about the effects upon a regiment when defeated in battle. The smoke from dozens of cannons and thousands of rifles, along with all the associated noise, blood, and terror of battle, made for a horribly confusing scene. When a regiment was being driven from the field, they would often end up running in varied directions. The wounded would lie in one spot until perhaps a time later when they would struggle if possible to regain their unit … but where would that be? It might take days for surviving stragglers to find and connect with their regiment and brigade. That sort of confusion and defeat is similar to what is pictured in today’s reading from Deuteronomy.

Moses continues in these verses with his sermon that delineates a list of consequences to follow for Israel if they do not obey the covenant with God.

Consequence 4 – (verses 25-26) – Defeat in Battle – This again is a turnaround statement from the blessing section at the beginning of the chapter. Instead of the enemy fleeing in seven directions, this would be Israel’s experience in battle as punishment for their rejection of God. The number (seven) indicates the idea of a total and complete rout.

Consequence 5 – (verses 27-29) – Egyptian-like Diseases – These were the kinds of illnesses and plaques that befell the Egyptians because of their enemy status – but here they would be the experience of Israel, essentially for becoming an enemy of God by rejection.

Consequence 6 – (verses 30-35) – Oppression of Godless Enemies and Occupiers – No longer would Israel be able to depend upon the Lord to protect them from the fully evil and conscience-hardened enemies who would afflict atrocities upon them without any guilt.

The total picture is of complete disarray and confusion. Their lives would be so convoluted as to be impossible to sort out successfully. What a total mess … a disaster that was unnecessary if only they would have obeyed. This truth is timeless.

25 The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. 26 Your carcasses will be food for all the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away. 27 The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. 28 The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. 29 At midday you will grope about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.

30 You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. 32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. 33 A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days. 34 The sights you see will drive you mad. 35 The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

You have often heard it said, “Do you want the good news first, or the bad news?”  Moses didn’t ask this of the Israelites, but what he did here in chapter 28 of Deuteronomy is give them the good news first – the blessings for obedience that we talked about yesterday. It only took a total of 14 verses to cover that material. Now, as Moses lists the curses for disobedience, this bad news will cover a total of 54 more verses!

The same four general statements are listed as negative outcomes in today’s reading in verses 16-19, just as they were positive outcomes yesterday in verses 3-6. And as Moses gave a brief sermon of application yesterday (verses 7-14), the sermon in today’s passage (and the 3 to follow until the end of the chapter) will be much longer. I will speak about this over the four days in terms of “consequences of disobedience.”

Consequence 1 (verse 20) – Destruction – Thinking ahead to the conquest of the land and the manner by which God would make possible the Israelite’s victory over powerful foes – it often happened because God caused a confusion in the midst of those camps that rendered them defenseless. This same sort of experience would befall Israel if they disobeyed God. And like all disobedience, it has a long, slow erosion, with the actual destructive fall occurring seemingly all at once.

Consequence 2 (verses 21-22) – Diseases – A number of categories of physical diseases are listed here, as well as a variety of afflictions upon plants and vegetation that lead to death.

Consequence 3 (verses 23-24) – Drought – The devastation of drought is well-known to us, as we saw it in much of America this past summer. We are paying for it with increased prices everywhere, yet our problems are not as severe as in many other parts of the world. God would allow this calamity to come upon the people for disobedience, whereas his promise was to always provide sufficient water as a demonstration of his faithfulness if they would simply follow his commandments.

It is interesting that the passage speaks of a “wasting disease.”  This is something we hear about in our area as a specific ailment that affects the deer population. The animal simply has a disease that causes it to lose weight and waste away over time. So also, when we disobey God, there is a sort of spiritual chronic wasting disease of the soul that goes on within us. We cannot thrive apart from obeying God’s timeless commands.

On the day that I write this, I have spoken with a friend who shared with me of their efforts to counsel another mutual friend who has essentially walked away from God and is seeking satisfaction in all the wrong places and values. A particular crisis was being dealt with on this date, though both yesterday and tomorrow feature other trials that are the fruit of bad choices. Our friend is wasting away, sadly dying an inch at a time – all the while confused in the belief that there are answers to be found other than by trusting in God. The answer is of course to be found in the title of this series – REVIVE.

Curses for Disobedience

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. 21 The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. 22 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. 23 The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. 24 The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.

When I was a kid growing up in church with multiple children’s programs and various Vacation Bible Schools, we had to learn and memorize a lot of verses. This really agreed with me! You got points and prizes for that! It was a way of keeping score and competing, and I loved it. I can still remember the summer after 1^st grade finishing 2^nd in the entire church VBS with 905 points. This girl named Jennie Shields got 970 points to win – which I still am bitter about to this day, because she was three years older than me!

I recall that we were at times memorizing some pretty remote portions of the Bible. But I don’t remember ever being challenged to commit verse 13 from today’s reading to memory: 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. You’ve got to admit, that is a way cool verse! Who wants to be a tail? Who wants to be on the bottom? And all you’ve got to do to be a head or to be on top is to obey God’s commands. The verse packs a summary of what you need to know to be successful.

Remember the commercials in the past that said, “My broker is E.F. Hutton, and E.F. Hutton says …” … and the room suddenly would go quiet as everyone leaned in to hear. My father was a very quiet man who was a lot like E.F. Hutton.  He didn’t talk a lot, but when he did, everyone listened. I remember one occasion when I was pastoring my previous church in New Jersey – attended by my parents – and before receiving the offering I did a brief interview with my father, who was by far the oldest man in the church. He simply said that many years before, in the midst of the Great Depression when he was earning only $20 a week, he determined that he was going to live for God and at a minimum tithe his meager income. He said, “From that day forward, I did not ever cease to prosper in my life.” He went from being the tail to being the head, from being at the bottom to being at the top. A holy hush came over the congregation.

The passage today lists the blessings that will come from obedience to the covenant of Israel with the Lord God. This does not mean that every day and every situation will always be perfect. This does not mean that there will not be lean times that test one’s faith. This does not mean that we will not find a lot of disappointment in this life, along with a desire for a better world. But it does mean that our needs are met, and often in abundance. And that should REVIVE us today.

Blessings for Obedience

28:1   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. 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.