I’ve been spending time, as I read the Bible, considering the lessons God has taught, but people have not learned.
For example, God promised the Israelites blessings for their obedience, but if they disobeyed, He detailed their consequences.
Deuteronomy 28:1-68 provides the full details of those blessings and consequences. Below are a few verses from that section of Scripture:
“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.” [Deuteronomy 28:1-2]
“But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all His commandments and His statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.” [Deuteronomy 28:15].
As the details are recorded in Scripture, Israel failed to honor and obey God. God would bring consequences for their disobedience, the people would repent, and God would bless them.
However, as you study the details of Israel’s history, you will see how the Scriptures detail their lack of remembering the consequences of disobedience, and the cycle of disobedience, consequences, repentance, and restoration of relationship with God would occur again and again.
However, loss of relationship with the Lord occurs whenever we are in disobedience.
The books of Kings and Chronicles contain many of these details. The prophetic books also provide more information on this failure to learn from history.
How about us? Are we learning from history? I’m not only talking about God’s history with the Israelites, which we should learn from.
After all, God recorded all of it to reveal Jesus as our Lord and Savior, showing us our need for Jesus. Additionally, He also is giving us the ability to learn from the sinful choices of those detailed in the Bible.
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines blessing as: “A solemn prophetic benediction, in which happiness is desired, invoked or foretold.”, and curses as: “To utter imprecations; to affirm or deny with imprecations of divine vengeance.”
Let’s consider some of the blessings God offered to the Israelites:
“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.” [Whatever and wherever they found themselves, God would bring good their way.]
“Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. [Babies, food, and all they needed would be provided.]
“Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.” [Plentiful provisions.]
“Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. [Protection and blessing wherever they went.] Deuteronomy 28:3-6
Overall, Israel would have pleasant enjoyment of life with God in all they did, if they obeyed Him.
But God knew their hearts would be wayward, so He detailed the curses for disobedience:
“Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.” Deuteronomy 28:16-19
Disobedience would result in just the opposite of the blessings. Hardship, hunger, lack of safety, etc. would be their lifestyle.
What can and will we learn from these Scriptures?
We have choices.
We can choose to walk in obedience to God and experience His blessings, or we can choose to walk in disobedience and experience His discipline.
We can choose to learn from the disobedience of those in Scripture that God will bring consequences
We can choose to ask God for help to obey.
We can choose to resist evil choices that lead to disobedience.
James 4:7 lets us know that we have the choice: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
We can choose to learn from the history of the Israelites.
We can also choose to learn from our own history.
The question is, how much are we willing to learn and apply from the teachings in Scripture and our own sinful choices and their consequences?
Recently I’ve been applying my history to my life in order to stop my sinful pattern when something grips me. I want to live in God’s blessings, not under his discipline.
Whenever something got me fired up, angry, hurt, etc., I would tell my friends, and ruminate on it A LOT!
But God has taught me that if I take my challenges to Him FIRST, that they won’t keep resounding in my heart and mind, and that His peace will rule. I am learning from my own history. Where the pain of whatever was troubling me would continue when I didn’t run first to God, I have now developed a better pattern. Now, instead of carrying on about my trouble in an ungodly way, I’m turning to Jesus first. God releases something in me that causes the troubles to not grip me like they used to.
What history will you learn from – your own or those in Scripture, so that you can live in God’s blessings?
If I can help you in any way, please contact me at: ButGodCares@gmail.com
Living for Jesus, Donna
P.S. If this has helped you, please feel free to share it with others!
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Copyright 2022 Donna Shappy
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