IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Daily Bread

If You Do Not Obey the Lord Your God...

Date: Dec. 4, 2020

Passage

Deuteronomy 28:15-35 (ESV)

15 “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. 16 Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. 17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 18 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. 19 Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

20 “The LORD will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. 21 The LORD will make the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 22 The LORD will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. 23 And the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. 24 The LORD will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

25 “The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 And your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away. 27 The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed. 28 The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind, 29 and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. 30 You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you. 32 Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, but you shall be helpless. 33 A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, 34 so that you are driven mad by the sights that your eyes see. 35 The LORD will strike you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

Daily Bread

Key Verse: 28:15

“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.

1. All these curses will come on you (15-20)

God redeemed his people and gave the covenant of Law to bless them by showing them the best way to live and to maintain a love relationship with him. But those who did not carefully keep it would be cursed, impacting every way of life: urban or rural, kitchen and children, crops, and health.

2. The LORD will… (21-35)

These curses are not 'cause and effect,' impartial rules of law. Rather, the emphasis here is that the LORD himself will curse: their bodies, nations, society, minds, families, businesses, etc.… This reveals the love of God in a covenant with his people: When they violate the covenant, they break their relationship with God by abusing his love and grace. Due to sin, this covenant could not be kept. God's mercy is revealed in the New Covenant: God poured all these curses on Jesus, who became a curse for us (Gal 3:13). He sent the Holy Spirit, who lives in us, empowering us to obey his word and to live in communion with God by faith.

Prayer: Father, you redeemed us by grace, and our relationship matters to you so much. Help me to carefully keep the covenant in Jesus' blood daily.

One Word: "If you love me, obey my teaching"

Daily Bread

God’s Wrath and Justice

Revelation 6:1-17

Key Verse: 6:17

for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

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Intro Daily

Today's Question

What does God require from us to escape His anger and curse, which we deserve for our sin?

See answer and references