Deuteronomy 28 is the record of some of Moses' last words to the people of God just before they enter the Promised Land. The chapter can be divided into two sections. The first is summarized by these two verses.
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. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.
The second part can be summarized by this verse.
But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
God will respond to the choices that His people will be making. He will act to do them good. That is, He will bless them. Or He will act to do them harm. That is, He will curse them. And what is it that God will look for as He decides to bless or curse? He is looking for obedience. But let's be careful here. In light of what other parts of the Scripture teach we would do well to use a phrase that Paul used. God is looking for the obedience of faith, the obedience that comes from believing God when He speaks. When He sees that in His saints He will bless. If He fails to see that in them He will curse. Fortunately, He is a patient God, giving His people time to repent. If they do, blessing will follow. But if they refuse to repent there will be His curse.
God is quite clear. He will act in response to His people's choices. Is there the obedience of faith? That principle explains so much of the story of the people of God in the Old Testament, the blessings and the curses.
Has that principle changed for our day? Does God still act in this way in response to the choices of His people, or is there some other principle in play? Does He still look for the obedience of faith so that He can bless or has such obedience become unnecessary? There are things that have changed since Old Testament days, but this is not one of them. We are still blessed - or cursed - based on whether we are believing Jesus as He leads us by the Spirit. And this believing will show as obedience. This should be a great encouragement. You will be blessed as you work at this obedience. Jesus knows what you are doing. He knows how hard it for you to obey at times. But your effort is worth it. He will do you good in response. There will be blessing.