Deuteronomy 28:12-14 (ESV)
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. 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, 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.
In Deuteronomy 27-28 we have what is known as the “blessings and the curses.” God, through His prophet Moses, is telling the nation that if they obey His Word, He will bless them. But, if they disobey His Word, He will curse them. There is not a more powerful two chapters in the Bible that describe for what happens when we obey or disobey God. We only have the read the history of Israel to see that these chapters came true. Every curse we read in them was played out in the land and on the people for their constant disobedience. It is all about out obedience to God’s known will.
In the above passage we read the purpose of the blessings and the curses. Yes, God wants us to obey Him to bring Him glory. But, notice in the above passage what God’s desire is for the nation. He wants them to be able to be a blessing to the world around them. That is the point of Him choosing Abraham, making of Abraham a great nation and wanting them to obey Him. God chose Israel to bless the nations around them. He does not want them to be the “tail.” He wanted them to be the “head.” Notice what God will tell them in later in this same chapter when talking about the curses for disobeying His laws:
Deuteronomy 28:43-44 (ESV)
The sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
God chooses human representatives to be examples to the world around them so that they can show the world the grace and mercy of God. Notice what Paul writes to the church in regard to the ministry of the church:
1 Thessalonians 1:7 (ESV)
so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
He wanted the church to be examples to the world around them. That is what He wants for us. It begins and ends with us obeying God’s Word. We can be an example of God’s blessing for obedience or an example of God’s cursing for disobedience. Yes, we will not lose our salvation, but by disobedience we can lose the blessings from God.
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