Healthy Blessing
Deuteronomy 28: 2,3, 5, 14 – 17, 61
2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey the Lord your God.
3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
14 And do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
15 But it shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God, to be careful to follow all His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
16 Cursed will you be in the city, and cursed will you be in the country.
17 Cursed will be your basket and your kneading bowl.
61 Also every sickness and every plague which, not written in the book of this law, the Lord will bring on you until you are destroyed.
Chapter 28 of Deuteronomy is where you find the blessing. It also shows what the curse holds. You would be well served to at least read verses 1 – 14 for yourself so that you understand what the blessing means in your life. I have chosen a few select verses to talk about sickness and health.
We already saw in yesterday’s verse that there were diseases in Egypt but that those are not for us. Today we will see that the blessing protects us from the diseases that are in the curse.
First, there is a condition which must be fulfilled, namely that we listen to the commandments of the Lord and obey them. When we do, our lives are ruled by the blessing. However, if we do not obey the words of the Lord, we subject ourselves to the curse. Obedience means we are blessed in the city and blessed in the country. Disobedience means the curse will impact us in the city and in the country, everywhere, in other words. Following God’s instructions brings blessing to our basket and kneading bowl while obstinance curses our food supply.
It is obvious that when we obey God and follow His guidance, we receive the exact opposite benefit of the impact of the curse. Do you agree? This is important when we get to verse 61 because it tells us the result rebellion has on health. The cost of rebellion is all the sickness and disease of Egypt. Therefore, I conclude the prize of obedience is avoidance of Egypt’s curse.
There is sickness in Egypt (the world) because the world does not listen to the counsel of the Lord. If we act like the world and follow the advice of the world, then we are going to reap the results of the world. We need to inquire of the Lord and listen to His wisdom. Then, importantly, we must do as He says. Sometimes what the Lord tells you to do will not make sense to you. Sometimes it may not even sound like faith. None the less, His wisdom will always lead to good results.
Here is one small example that you can relate to. We know that exercising is good for our health. Let’s suppose you have a goal to exercise every weekday and rest on the weekends. What if you get to Friday and there is a nagging thought about not working out? Perhaps your body feels tired. If you have faith, shouldn’t you be able to press on and meet your goals? Or maybe, that voice is God telling you that your body is ready for a rest day now. If you press on maybe you injure yourself. We need to be able to listen to Father’s daily guidance in our work, diet, exercise and even rest. You know, maybe He wants to make some changes in your schedule for better results. We’ve got to listen to Him and OBEY if we are going to live in the blessing. And, that is the Word of the Day for today – obey. So far that gives us an equation of inquire, listen and obey. Maybe it is, instead, a recipe, a recipe for the blessing.
Here is the point, God is your healer. That is what we shouldn’t lose sight of. He can, and does, heal supernaturally, but He also wants to help you avoid feeling bad in the first place. I am thinking of the 23rd Psalm and the picture it paints of the Great Shepherd’s care. Rest in His love and trust Him. There is the curse in the earth but, praise God, there is the blessing. Our beloved has provided blessing for every element of our lives including health. Let’s follow Him to the green pastures and fresh water of the blessing. Amen?
