Deuteronomy 28:15-19 — But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

As the Israelites are about to enter the Promised Land God, through Moses, lays it out very plainly: Blessings, or curses. There is no doubt what the options are. Follow God’s rules, be blessed. Don’t listen to God and follow His rules, be cursed.

“So what,” you might say, “what’s that got to do with us?”. That’s a fair question. Let’s look around. 10,000 dead of Ebola. California running out of water, false religions rampant, political and moral confusion running riot … Read the curses in Deuteronomy. Do they look, at all, like any of the things you see happening around you?

Perhaps we are not suffering the full range of punishments that God warned that His people would face — but we are surely well on the way. That leads to a natural question. Have we failed to listen to God’s word and obey His commandments.

My question is a painful one, because it applies to us, the people of God — not to the world.Are we, God’s people,  not listening to Him, not doing His commandments and statutes? I have to believe that’s true.

There’s an interesting tension here. On the one hand, God is “merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” but on the other hand He “will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7). How go we resolve this? Surely a gracious God will forgive His repentant people? I think that perceived conflict is based on a misunderstanding. Forgiveness does not mean the elimination of consequences. We are going to suffer the earthly consequences of our disobedience before we pass on to eternal joy.

Yes … We are in trouble now, and it’s going to get worse. God’s people need to get back on track!