Why Indeed

Why did you make us leave Egypt and bring us here to this terrible place? This land has no grain, no figs, no grapes, no pomegranates, and no water to drink!” [Numbers 20.5]

To question, "why?" is often nothing more than a proud statement of man's insolence against God's sovereignty. The verse above is the perfect example: Israel totally blew it most of the time - instead of trusting God, they complained over and over again.

Oh, I am certain the use of the question "why?" is not always a bad thing. However, if we are paying spiritual attention, we might avoid a display of proud rebellion by just repenting instead of questioning why.

In fact, bad things are well-defined in the Bible (Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26) to be the direct result of disobedience. Ours is not to re-define the obvious meaning of bad things (curses), but to simply understand that curses reveal the presence of sin and therefore the need for repentance.

Now, fast-forward to New Testament times:

But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” [Galatians 3.13]

Jesus rescued (redeemed) us from the curse pronounced by the law. So, when we experience curses, what should our response be? Let me emphatically say what our response should not be! We should NOT call something that is clearly bad to be good. In other words, we should never call a curse a blessing!

If Jesus redeemed us from the curse, and we still experience curses, then who's problem is it? It is ours. Formulating doctrines to justify curses on our lives as some sort of 'blessing' is ludicrous. Instead, our first response should always be to repent because curses only attach to sin (Jesus' blood guaranteed the sinlessness of faith!).

If we think we have not sinned (deserving curses) and still experience curses, then there still remains the obedience-factor of faith. If Christ redeemed us from the curse, and we do not effectively believe (or, have faith) that He did so, then we are still left in disobedience because if it is not of faith it is not pleasing to God, and whatever is not pleasing to God is sin.

Curses really are simple. It is man who, in denial and pride, complicates what should otherwise be obvious according to the Bible! Just read through the Old Testament accounts of famines and other 'natural' disasters and see how people accepted the fact that they were all curses. It was not until we started to view such occurrences through scientific analysis that we stripped those occurrences of their formerly understood implication of the need to repent.

And, if we further deduce that we have no sin (which, I don't know how anyone can come to that conclusion), we are still left the potential for a faith failure. Faith, as Jesus demonstrated and commanded, produces results (in other words, mountains move). 

It never ceases to amaze me how our first response to curses is usually to question God's intentions. Just like Israel roaming around in the wilderness taking no responsibility whatsoever for their faithless, Godless actions, we too want to blame God for the bad things that happen in our lives.

What we need to do is repent. What we need to do is STAY repentant. It will not be until we are fully humbled before the Father that He will lift us up and empower us to do His will (the works of Jesus - loving and forgiving the world so they might be saved, healed and delivered).

Father, forgive me for ongoing pride and spiritual arrogance in my life. I want it to stop. I want to be a channel of Your power and blessings. You are always right - Your Word is always true. Help me unlearn all the science of Godlessness and replace it with the science of Your Word - applying the principles of blessings and curses to determine my compliance or non-compliance with You and Your will - whether is be by my actions or by my faith.