“The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” – Number 6:24-26
This is what is considered the ‘priestly blessing’ as God told Moses to bless Aaron and his sons when they were ordained of God into the priesthood. And it is actually a very common passage of scripture we hear in church. In fact, we are quite flippant as we quote and misquote such a blessing.
Oftentimes, the minister speaking those words will transition into another ‘feel good’ passage that seems to carry the same tune… (This passage is our subject matter.)
“Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the country. 4 “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. 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 your face; 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 storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.” – Deuteronomy 28:3-8
Isn’t that blessing a beautiful passage? Speak it at someone’s going away party, wedding, or ordination and you will fit in with everyone else. Heck, you could even get everyone feeling all light and fluffy on the inside by just speaking it over your congregation as they depart for Golden Corral on a Sunday afternoon. The truth is… that this passage is usually quoted in ways that are so out of context that people receive them as a pat on the back for doing so well…. when in fact, such blessings are quite conditional and foretelling of the reality of things.
First, let me bring your attention to the fact that many will begin quoting Deuteronomy 28 with verse 3, circumventing verses 1 and 2 which say:
“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God” – Deut. 28:1-2
Whoa, now we can see that all of these blessings are conditional. This is what I often call the “If/Then Factor,” for example; “If you do this… then I will do that.” Much of scripture is written in such a way that calls us to obedience in order to receive the blessing. But we speak the blessing as if we are entitled to it without even the slightest act of obedience.
So what happens if we claim the blessing without the act of obedience? Well, this is the part that most ministers will leave out of the ceremony:
“But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: 16 “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. 17 “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 18 “Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. 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 cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me.” ” – Deut. 28:15-20
The chapter continues that if we do not obey the Lord, we would be confused, rebuked, and plagued, that we would suffer from fevers, inflammation, burning, and violence, that we would be defeated, divided, and scattered, that we would receive boils, and tumors, the scab, and the itch, madness, blindness, confusion of heart, that we would not prosper in our ways, but that we would be oppressed and plundered continually, that our wives would sleep around on us, that our finances and our livelihood would be taken from us right before our eyes, that foreigners and immigrants would reap the harvest of our labors, that our children would depart from the faith, and that the curses would consume our would-be increase, that we would be hostile to our brothers and our wives, and that the fathers would leave the children behind, that we would have a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul, that we would find no rest, that we would be desirous that time would pass by more quickly, looking for when the anguish would end but never finding such end.
Of course, no one wants to hear that kind of “Debbie Downer” as they begin a new venture in life… but there’s depth to this passage that indicates something very disturbing… We may call ourselves blessed and highly favored of the Lord… but as we look at society… as we look at the Body of Christ, as we judge ourselves according to scripture, it is clear that we are not living in a blessing, but a curse.
We are cursed in our city as unrighteous rulers rule over us in wickedness and corruption. We are cursed in our country as Anti-Christian hate groups rise up against us on every side and in every aspect of life. We are cursed in our finances, always scraping to get by. We are cursed in our livelihood, and the work of our hands, most of us unable to even speak about Jesus on the job. We labor but have no increase. We work but God’s abundance pours through our hands like a sieve. We are cursed in our lack of provision, and what we produce with our hands is inferior compared to the wicked.
Whether we are coming or going, we are the target of ridicule in the land. We, as a body, are overtaken with curses, and ailments and diseases, and we are constantly cry out for healing, provision, and deliverance. We are divided by confusion and point the finger at those who are cursed by the same. We are rebuked and silenced by the unrighteous, and our vigor fails us quickly in opposition. Our enemies prosper in abundance of riches and power against us while we scrape the bottom of every barrel to make ends meet. The wicked poison our food, our water, and our air. They ridicule us and mock God at every turn. Wickedness is prevailing as God’s body suffers. The curses God promised are indeed upon us and we have been deceived. God has fulfilled His word, and we ignored His truth. We have rejected the very thought that we could possibly be cursed while ignoring the signs all around us. By our own fruits we can see that we have been disobedient to God!! We have forsaken God and have dealt in wickedness. We are overtaken with curses just as the Lord said would happen if we were disobedient to Him. And it only gets worse.
What then, should I do now?
Repent.
We repent. We turn ourselves around and walk in the opposite direction (which is the very definition of repentance). We have recently even been in the season of repentance according to the Hebrew calendar.
So, we repent for not being obedient to God, and we become obedient. We repent by seeking His face. We repent by seeking His voice. We repent by seeking His commands, and by standing for His statutes. We repent by fighting for what is biblical. We repent by fighting for what is moral. And we repent by fighting for what is just and right. We look at what we have done by inaction, and we repent by taking action.
We stop leaving the fight to someone else. We become passionate about the things that matter to God. We rise up and take our positions in government, in business, in the education system, in school boards, in arts and entertainment, in the family, in the church, and in the media.
We change the atmosphere wherever we go… and we go knowing there will be a battle to fight, and ground to take back for the Lord.
All it takes is repentance, and the curses will be behind us. We will live in the blessings we only thought we were already living in, and we gain back the ground that has been lost for the Kingdom of God.
For decades, we have been guilty of inaction. We have been passive. We have placed the responsibility of fighting for the things of God squarely on the shoulders of the faithful few who have been deep in the trenches…
But God is raising up activists in this season. Are you one of them? Will you take ownership of the matters dear to God’s heart? Or will you continue in the curse until it has consumed you?
I know what I will choose. I hope you choose the same.
