“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the LORD, you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” [Deuteronomy 30.19-20]
If the words, "life and death" weren't enough, Moses (speaking for God) goes on further define their meaning by referring to the covenant terms of "blessings and curses" previously discussed in depth in this same context.
There is a key word in the passage above and that word is "choice." Life and death, blessings and curses are choices each and every person must make. That tells me that the state of condition of blessings or curses upon my life is entirely up to me. It is that simple.
But wait... we can't be satisfied with something that simple, can we? No, for the most part, mankind, even those who claim to be family with God, have perverted the simplicity of blessings and curses by taking man's responsibility out of the equation and making blessings and curses out to be random acts of God.
So, instead of seeing cancer as a curse - a wasting disease, as described in the curses upon disobedience in Deuteronomy 28, too many claiming to be family with God have convinced themselves that somehow cancer is God's way of revealing His love for them, that it is just their cross to bear in this life (abbreviated as cancer may make that life), and in some way serves God's (mysterious) higher purpose.
Let me be very clear. The well-defined curses described in Deuteronomy 28 were, and always will be, indicators, in the life of the cursed one, of the presence of disobedience (sin) and the need for repentance! The only correct response to curses is repentance!
But, it makes lazy Christians feel better about themselves to deny the obvious implications of curses, and instead proudly deny their fault and arrogantly approach their curses with resolve to withstand them (even outrageously claiming God's help to do so) with no thought of repenting.
Why are we so slow to accept the fact that we need to repent when curses come? Oh sure, "it's complicated" - but if we do not stand on the firmly established foundation of truth about this topic (found in Deuteronomy), what hope do we ever have of sorting any of it out otherwise?
What has happened is that Christianity has become so laced with this false teaching and false humility (ie. pride) regarding curses ("bad things happening") that we have quite literally become numb to it. We are like a man being beaten for his crimes that has become so numb to his beating that every blow only further sets his resolve that he is not at fault.
Our society has so blurred the lines between right and wrong that we have pretty much just concluded that everyone is right and that "bad things" are just "the way it is" and no one is at fault - and no one needs to repent. The Bible does not teach that.
It is bad enough that we would accept bad things as our lot in life, but infinitely and eternally worse that, in so doing, we fail to repent!
If you see smoke, there is fire (it needs to be dealt with).
If you see curses, there is sin (it needs to be dealt with).
Denial that smoke means fire results in a burned-down house!
Denial that curses mean sin results in... ? Do I dare go there? God hates pride. Pride will not exist in God's presence (example: Satan).
Why not just repent? Why not just be in the habit of repenting? Are we afraid it will hurt our self-esteem?
Self-esteem is overrated. Self-esteem is what got Satan kicked out of God's presence to become God's archenemy. Self-esteem is just a tricky way of protecting and preserving our pride.
Wouldn't it be better to repent and not need to, than to not repent and need to?
Rampant diseases, natural disasters, and social chaos all glaringly point to the need for repentance. Better medicine, climate awareness and gun control cannot and will not do what repentance will do. Repentance will restore blessings.
Yes, repentance will restore blessings. But, we must "choose" to repent.
Father, forgive me for pride in the face of obvious curses upon my life. Give me eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand the conditions of my life and how blessings and curses play the role of guiding me to rejoicing or repentance. Help me to see this on a personal level, but even more importantly, on a humanity level.
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