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Deuteronomy 28 (ESV)
Blessings for Obedience
1 “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. 3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. 5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. 8 The Lord will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 9 The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. 10 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. 11 And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, 14 and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
REFLECTION:
God promises to be with the Israelites, bless every aspect of their lives with only one condition: “If you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways”(v9). These verses elaborate on the nature of those extensive blessings, having to do with military success, material well-being, agricultural bounty, and reproductive fertility. Such a listing of the potential blessings encourages covenant obedience. Indeed, Deuteronomy invites the hope that obedience to God leads to the individual and communal lives that God intended for us to live.
Recall a time when God’s presence was especially evident in my life. Did it coincide with a time when I was making every effort to “walk humbly with your God” (Mic 6:8)? What does this suggest?
Which of these tangible blessings have I seen in my life?
