Deuteronomy – Chapter 28

And the Lord will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer. Deuteronomy 28:68 – Depending on which part of the chapter you read you will come away with a very different future promised to Israel. In the first part we see the blessings that could come upon Israel if they obeyed the words of the Lord, and the blessings were beyond anything they could have dreamt of. Yet the second part of the chapter were the curses that would come upon the nation if they rejected obeying the words of the Lord, and this part far exceeds in length the blessings portion. In every way they could feel the consequence they would. They would be scattered, oppressed, diseased, and killed off. They would starve to the point of eating their own children. And all the curses come to this last verse in the chapter, verse 68. Where the people would return back to Egypt, the place God rescued them from abusive slavery, for they hoped they could be enslaved there once again to improve their life…yet not even there would anyone want them. Stripped of everything and destroyed in every way, and now not even wanted. This was the future of Israel is they refused to follow God’s word. Know though this was not God’s desire. He longed to open the treasury of Heaven on His people and bless them, they simply had to follow His ways. While such blessing and curses are not made over us today, we must understand that blessings and the lack of such blessings still come to us depending on our faithfulness to the Lord. God’s peace, provision, and purposes for us are available to every follower, but we can miss all of it by a wayward lifestyle. If you want what God wants to give you, then faithfully follow His word. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3466

Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. Deuteronomy 28:6 – God here was showing His people how to find a blessed life. To simply listen to what He had said and follow it all with all their heart. They would then find themselves blessed in all that they do and in every aspect of their life. But, as we continue to read in this chapter, God also reminded them how their life would look like if they chose to not follow His Word. Today you have a choice. To listen to what you know God has spoken into your story to do or to not. While our situations are different than the people in our passage, we understand the difference between a life that is filled with blessing and one that isn’t. God is inviting us into His blessed life and what we simply have to do is follow His lead. Let our eyes today not be distracted to the left or right, but firmly focused on Him. Take a step toward Him today and begin seeing more and more what a blessed life of following Jesus looks like. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1323

Deuteronomy 28 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Deuteronomy 28:63 – This verse makes you stop and reread it doesn’t it? God is going to delight in bring ruin and destroying His people? As we read even this chapter we have 14 verses on God’s blessing and 54 about the curses that comes when God’s people don’t follow Him. Does God truly delight in this ruin He is bringing? Yes, but let’s explain. First, God delights in fulfilling His word and remaining holy. So while we learn in scripture it does not bring God joy to punish the sinner and this isn’t His desire (Ezekiel 18:23), keeping true to His word and keeping things holy and just is His desires and it brings Him delight. Second, what we learn from that above Ezekiel passage and from further passages in Deuteronomy (30:1-3), is that God knows what such discipline towards our waywardness does in our story. It’s causes us to change our ways back to following Him. God is not up in Heaven with an evil laugh enjoying smiting the sinner, it saddens Him when His people chose to follow something other than Him. What does bring Him joy is seeing us return to Him. While all these curses were not things God longed to bring into the story of His people, He did, and we see how His people returned to Him as a result. Let us remember to stay faithful to God. Not out of fear of a curse or punishment, but out of adoration of a holy God. Knowing as well when trials and difficulties come that God is using them to point our eyes onto Him even more. Let’s settle that whether it is a blessing or a curse in our current story, God’s desire is our following of Him. Turn, choose, and follow Jesus and embrace the life of blessing that is promised in such a pursuit. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2453