Post by tomdurst on Mar 26, 2016 13:16:44 GMT -5
BLESSINGS AND CURSES
"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”--Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (ESV)
Many times throughout the Bible there is reference to God bestowing blessings or curses and the verse above is a key to understanding the real spiritual import of either blessing or cursing. God does not really bless or curse anyone and language which states this needs to be understood in its true spiritual meaning. If we choose to follow the self-centered path of life we are violating spiritual law and bring curses (suffering) upon ourselves in some form. It is not God punishing us even though taken literally that is what many verses seem to be saying. Our good behavior doesn’t bring blessings from God upon us either. Blessings follow when we live in communion with God and in harmony with Kingdom principles (see Luke 12:32). The Bible writers sometimes speak of God “hardening the heart” which means what happens when we either deny the Almighty or simply neglect to make Him first.
Life and death is set before us and we reap results according to which one we choose. As we grow in our spiritual awareness and choose to live more fully in harmony with the Kingdom of God we experience less and less suffering and appreciate His grace more and more. It is true that none of us are 100% free from the hypnotism that governs the world but as we experience more of God our eyes are opened and we learn that God’s ways are the best and this changes the way we experience everything in life. If you ponder the above quoted passage carefully you will see that as we choose life we are indeed blessed and basically that is all we really need to know. As we sow we shall reap and there is no getting around that simple fact (Galatians 6:7-8). God deals with us in a “grace” relationship and so we do not earn blessings that come. If He bestowed blessings based on our good behavior it would no longer be grace. We should not conceive God as either raining down blessings or curses but rather that they are the natural outworking or results of our life choices. I suggest that this is the real spiritual meaning of those verses that speak of God either cursing (punishing) or pouring out blessings. As we experience more of the Kingdom of God we are set free from bondage and we become more like our Lord (see Proverbs 4:18; John 8:32; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Peter 3:18)
I invite you to read FULLNESS OF LIFE FOR ALL PEOPLE which is on the link below:
FULLNESS OF LIFE FOR ALL PEOPLE