Tag: severe

52.p. Wilderness – 16.v. “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart”

 

Deu 28:21  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. 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. And the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. The LORD will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed. “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. 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.  The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed. The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind, 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.

Deu 28:34  so that you are driven mad by the sights that your eyes see.

Deu 28:37  And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away.

Deu 28:45  “All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you.

Deu 28:47  Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things,

Deu 28:58-59  “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the LORD your God, then the LORD will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting.

Deu 28:61  Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the LORD will bring upon you, until you are destroyed.

 Deu 28:63  And as the LORD took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the LORD will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you.

Deu 28:66-67  Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and the sights that your eyes shall see.

The same variety of expression is used in these terrible curses, as in the preceding blessings, to intimate every kind of prosperity or adversity, personal, relative, and public.

If we do not keep God’s commandments, we not only come short of the blessing promised, but we lay ourselves under the curse, which includes all misery, as the blessing all happiness. Observe the justice of this curse. It is not a curse causeless, or for some light cause. The extent and power of this curse. Wherever the sinner goes, the curse of God follows; wherever he is, it rests upon him. Whatever he has is under a curse. All his enjoyments are made bitter; he cannot take any true comfort in them, for the wrath of God mixes itself with them. Many judgments are here stated, which would be the fruits of the curse, and with which God would punish the people of the Jews, for their apostacy and disobedience. We may observe the fulfilling of these threatenings in their present state. To complete their misery, it is threatened that by these troubles they should be bereaved of all comfort and hope, and left to utter despair. Those who walk by sight, and not by faith, are in danger of losing reason itself, when every thing about them looks frightful. (Henry)

Oh that our hearts and minds would grasp the holy blessings of God in light of the wrathful curses. Sin has a way of blinding us to only see blessings from God. Sin blinds us to the holiness of God. Neglect of His Word deafens our ears to the Holy Spirit’s conviction of sin. 

May the Word of God open your hearts and minds to His holiness and give you a deep desire to honor and glorify Him more and more each day.  We do not honor and glorify Jesus christ for the blessings we receive, but for who God is.

39.l. “Why should we die before your eyes?”

 

 

Genesis 47:13  Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.” And Joseph answered, “Give your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone.” So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. And when that year was ended, they came to him the following year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent. The herds of livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”

So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh’s. As for the people, he made servants of them from one end of Egypt to the other. 

Care being taken of Jacob and his family, which mercy was especially designed by Providence in Joseph’s advancement, an account is given of the saving the kingdom of Egypt from ruin. There was no bread, and the people were ready to die. See how we depend upon God’s providence. All our wealth would not keep us from starving, if rain were withheld for two or three years. See how much we are at God’s mercy, and let us keep ourselves always in his love. Also see how much we smart by our own want of care. If all the Egyptians had laid up corn for themselves in the seven years of plenty, they had not been in these straits; but they regarded not the warning. Silver and gold would not feed them: they must have corn. All that a man hath will he give for his life. We cannot judge this matter by modern rules. It is plain that the Egyptians regarded Joseph as a public benefactor. The whole is consistent with Joseph’s character, acting between Pharaoh and his subjects, in the fear of God. The Egyptians confessed concerning Joseph, Thou hast saved our lives. What multitudes will gratefully say to Jesus, at the last day, Thou hast saved our souls from the most tremendous destruction, and in the season of uttermost distress! The Egyptians parted with all their property, and even their liberty, for the saving of their lives: can it then be too much for us to count all but loss, and part with all, at His command, and for His sake, who will both save our souls, and give us an hundredfold, even here, in this present world? Surely if saved by Christ, we shall be willing to become his servants. (Henry)

In a national crisis, the power of the central government will increase.  We certainly have seen this fruit being manifested.  A seven-year famine will certainly be a national crisis and the power of the central government should increase.  However, when a government unleashes a fear campaign and controls news and media narratives they are able to get the sheep to follow.  If only it was fearful respect for God that would drive these sheep to follow after Him. Often fear is based on unknown outcomes with the threat of those outcomes impacting that person. Trusting in God and relying on His grace, mercy, and love will guard your heart against the fear that easily leads sheep to follow after worldly wisdom and action.  

We all stand before God bankrupt. When we come to Him through Jesus Christ our debt is forgiven.  Though you may have lived 10, 20, 30, or 60, years in famine to God’s grace, mercy, and, love, now is the time to humbly come before Him acknowledging your bankrupt soul and gain eternal life for your soul through belief, trust, and reliance on the blood of Jesus Christ to cover your debt.