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Blessings and CursingBy John F. Bulharowski
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Good morning. When I first decided on the subject that I'm going to talk about, I thought it would be an appropriate one for the Feast of Tabernacles, and of course that's a fitting thing to do. I always try to make things fit with the time or the occasion. I guess I didn't realize just how appropriate it would be because the subject I've decided to talk about is something that I have loosely entitled "Blessings & Cursings."
I say "loosely" because I'm taking a general approach to it, thinking not only of cursings but things that we deal with from day-to-day and usually refer to as trials, things that are not particularly nice to deal with. We don't consider them as fun things to be engaged in. Certainly we all know the sicknesses that have beset us, the injuries and whatnot. I'm not aware of anybody having difficulty getting here this year, although in the past we have had, for example, automobiles accidents or one thing or another. It seems everyone arrived here in fine shape, but then things started to happen.
Of course the Feast itself, just being here, is truly a great blessing. If what I detect is the demeanor of most people, everybody is really feeling in a blessed fashion. It sounds like people are in a very positive attitude, very effervescent, whatever word you want to apply to it.
Again I want to address this subject of blessings and cursings or good things and bad things, and I'm not got to look at it, at least as far as the blessings are concerned, from looking ahead the way Richard did the other day. He really gave us a fine detail of things to come. I will be looking ahead somewhat, but more so the here and the now in dealing with things as we may have to look at them now in our daily lives until that good time.
When we start thinking of blessings and cursings, our thoughts generally go directly to Deuteronomy 28. We have the companion chapter in Leviticus 26. Deuteronomy 28 is what we commonly refer to as "the blessings and cursings chapter." I'll read a few of the verses. I'm not going to go through the whole thing because there are 68 verses in the chapter. It's fairly lengthy. To begin with he says,
Again just a little synopsis of all of the really good things that even in the here and now people can have. Israel was given that promise in Deuteronomy 28. If they were to do their part, God would do His part. And conversely jumping down to verse 15 (I don't know if I should say "oddly enough") in my Bible he spends almost three full pages as opposed to three-fourths of a page on the negatives, the bad things, the cursings. So it's kind of a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio, bad things to good things. I'm not sure how to interpret that be that as it may. Deuteronomy 28:15-19:Now it shall be, if you will diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today [that's Moses speaking to the people of Israel], the Lord your God will set you on high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way and shall flee before you seven ways. (Deuteronomy 28:1-7 NASB)
[We find] all the converse of the things that I had read in the beginning of the chapter. Continuing in verse 20,But it shall come about, if you will not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
We get the flavor of the blessings and cursings from Deuteronomy 28 and it kind of leads us to thinking (I know with my thinking certainly from the very beginning of my association with the Church, and I held onto the feeling for quite sometime), and its quite a natural sort of conclusion I suppose, that if we experience something in our day-to-day living and it feels good basically (to put it succinctly) it must be a blessing. And conversely if it feels bad it must be a trial, perhaps a sore trial, maybe even a cursing. And that is a rather simplistic conclusion that I came to. I rather suspect from talking to the people that I have known over the years that this is a general kind of conclusion that they come to . . . rather simplistic in its nature.The Lord will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke, in all you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me.
Of course if you have come to that conclusion, you're probably not alone because there are those examples in scripture where people have arrived at exactly that same conclusion. If it feels good, it must be a blessing. If it doesn't feel good, it must be a cursing.
One of the places that it suggests this (in my mind anyway) is the book of Job and the scenario of Job. Job is a particularly interesting book with a lot of really neat things in it. I've chosen a small section here in chapter 11 to discuss just to give the example and the flavor of the assumption, or the conclusion on the part of at least Job's friends, that this was the case. You have what we call good things, nice feeling things, and it's a blessing. And if it's a curse then you must have done something wrong and you've got to confess.
Here in chapter 11 is Zophar the Naamathite. Jumping down to verse 13 he says among other things:
In a nutshell it kind of gives the flavor of what all of the friends of Job were saying. Of course as you read through Job the intensity of their arguments for and against gets greater and greater and it gets to be a rather heated argument as you see it going on. Job is quite frustrated.If you would direct your heart right, and spread out your hand to Him; if iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and do not let wickedness dwell in your tents. Then, indeed, you could lift up your face without moral defect, and you would be steadfast and not fear. For you would forget your trouble, as waters that have passed by, you would remember it. And your life would be brighter than noonday; darkness would be like the morning. Then you would trust, because there is hope; and you would look around and rest securely. You would lie down and none would disturb you, and many would entreat your favor. But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and there will be no escape for them; and their hope is to breathe their last. (Job 11:13-20 NASB)
I would point out that Satan was very clever when he struck Job. However he struck him, he was not in a condition where he was experiencing debilitating pain where he was just so far out of it. He left him with a clear mind. Whatever he had, this boils skin-kind of thing, was just so annoying and I'm not going to say it didn't hurt because I'm sure it did, but he left him with a clear mind so he could think. I would contrast that to my experiences with sicknesses like the flue that comes upon me and so forth and usually my muscles ache, my joints ache, my head aches, and I just don't want to think about anything, least of all a deep in-depth Bible study or study of any deep subject. Job on the other hand was left with his clear mind. Just read the arguments that he engaged in with his friends.
His friends were saying, Look, you've done something wrong. If you just confess, just tell God about it and say you're sorry, then He'll clear things away and you'll be up and around and things will be back to normal, again drawing that conclusion that bad things indicate disobedience and cursings from God, nice feeling things represent the blessings. Is it really a fair conclusion? Obviously I have something else to add to it. Hopefully, if I'm skillful, I will make it clear to you.
Is this a fair conclusion, that we simplistically look on these good feeling things as blessings and bad feeling things as the trials and the cursings? Let's take a look at it. Let's flash back in the Job story to the very beginning in Job 1:1.
The interesting part for me comes in verse 6 where we see described the first of two encounters of this kind between Satan and God.There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job, and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil.
This puts in my mind the smart-alecky kid. We've all been there when our dad asked, "Where have you been?" "Uh . . out." "What have you been doing?" "Ah . . . nothing." The kid's been gone for six hours . . . doing nothing. It's kind of a smart-alecky approach that Satan takes.Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, "From where do you come?" Then Satan answered the Lord and said, "From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it."
God looks beyond that and He throws down a gauntlet.
In light of what we've been hearing, can you imagine God saying that about you? Here is (fill in your name) fearing God and turning away from evil. Satan responds,And the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil." (Job 1:8)
As I said this is the first of two such encounters between God and Satan. Here in the midst of all this thing is the unsuspecting and unwitting subject of it all -- poor Job. He's totally oblivious to all of this that went on. The interesting aspect of it that I see, to put it in blunt terms, is here we have quite literally it seems a conspiracy between God, the protagonist, and Satan, the antagonist. The two of them working together to bring about a common set of a rather dismal kind of situation, a set of circumstances which inflicted pain, probably greater mental pain than the physical, on Job. Nevertheless they are two different forces. Then there is poor unsuspecting Job, the recipient of all of these agreements. Very, very interesting. God initiated the exchange and as a result Job ended up in that world of hurt that we all know about."[Lord] Does Job fear God for nothing? "Hast Thou not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth Thy hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse Thee to Thy face. Then the Lord said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him." So Satan [rather gleefully probably] departed from the presence of the Lord." (Job 1:9-12)
Another couple of questions which may seem silly for stating. These sufferings, would you say they were of God or were they from Satan? Were they blessings or were they cursings? Lest you jump to too quick a conclusion let's look a little bit further at it. James, chapter 1, gives some interesting information. This is sort of a little side journey but it's applicable to this situation that we have with Job dealing with the tempting and trying. James 1:13 says,
And yet you find back in the book of John, chapter 6, where Christ Himself is talking to one of the apostles (in this case Philip) It's this situation where the multitudes were following Jesus and they had nothing to eat. In verse 5-6:Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.
God tests, but He does not tempt. If you resort to word studies in this case you find that the same word is used for tempt and test in James, and in this case in John. The explanation has to be elsewhere and I satisfied myself in this in that the difference between the tempt and the test depends upon who is presenting the test or the tempt. One tempts somebody else when he wants to draw him into error.Jesus therefore lifting up His eyes, and seeing that a great multitude was coming to Him, said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat?" And this He was saying to test him;
This is the case of Satan at all times. He is laying before you something which is attractive perhaps or some situation in order to try his level best to draw you into error. Flashing back again to the Job case he was inflicting this situation to try to draw Job against his conversion and everything that Job knew to that point where he would just curse God and die.
On the other hand, God is involved in the same set of circumstances with Job. The difference was it was not a temptation, it was a test. He was laying before Job (the man who feared God and hated evil) this test to improve and to build. It's always a growth situation certainly in talking about God and the test that you may receive from Him. It's always in the nature of something that's going to improve you and help you grow. Even though there may be some pain involved, it may really be part of a blessing from the Most High. If you are going to develop the spiritual muscle and this is what God determines is required to do it, He will do it, just as he did in the case of Job.
What about us in this day and age? We have our daily experiences. Certainly throughout the past year I know I've had sometimes where I felt pretty down, pretty put upon, and I was wondering how I was going to cope with things. On the other hand I've had some really good things. Again do we find that we fall into this simplistic regime of considering the good feeling things are blessings and the bad feeling things, the pain, as cursings or a serious trial?
I want to make it clear that I'm not trying to talk about some masochistic sort of Christianity or whatever that you welcome the pain. I have known people who have said that they prayed for trials. I think that this is really quite silly. Just be patient. If God deems them necessary, you will get them. I am not trying to take this approach.
On the other hand I want to point out my conclusion after thinking much about the subject that the subject of blessings, cursings and trials is a far more complex kind of subject than just feeling good or feeling bad. Indeed, Satan is described as an angel of light. In many cases if he's going to draw you astray, he's not going to make something look bad. He's not going to say, "Hey folks, come on over here. Experience this because it really hurts a lot. It's wonderful!"
He puts attractive things, in most cases, before you. He may let you have the wonderful job with the great salary or whatever. It will look good to you and will feel good probably if Satan really wants to draw you into serious error. I've always said that the greatest trials are perhaps the greatest blessings . . . "can't stand prosperity" kind of thing because that's the situation in which you will probably forget your God.
On the other hand, if I can go back to the Deuteronomy reference again in chapter 28 sometimes it's just as interesting or it's more interesting what is not stated than the things that are stated implicitly. I want to zero in on verse 4 of chapter 28.
- Blessed shall be the offspring of your body.
He does not say, I will remove from the mother the agony or the discomfort or whatever it is that women feel during the nine months of gestation. I will not remove the pain and agony of labor and parturition. It will remain. There will be pain involved. It does not say, okay fathers, you will be free from any anxiety for your wife. You will be free from any worry, will the child be okay? It does not say any of these things. But it says the produce of your body, the offspring of your body, will be blessed.If you shall diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today . . . blessed shall be the offspring of your body.
I can look at it in a much broader sense and say that as a result of keeping diligently the commandments and statutes of God, God will set you on high and you will then, throughout the life of the child from the time you have the little baby counting fingers and toes, be teaching the child the same ways. And when you teach the child the way he should go he will not depart from it later on. You'll have a fine human being, an upstanding person. You'll have a God-fearing man or woman when they grow to full age . . . a person that you can be proud of . . . a person that you can talk to, deal with, a person who can be your friend, and believe me that's a blessing. It truly is.
There's more to it than the simple statement says. It does not say that there won't be some element of pain and suffering removed from you. This is the here and now don't forget. The blessings indeed will come, or the good feeling part of the blessings will come.
As we know with the situation with Job, it was finally resolved. We don't know, by the way, whether Job was ever informed of what was going on. We don't know if he ever figured it out. We don't know if God told him, "Look, Satan and I got together and we really pulled a good one on you. How did you like that?" He did what He had to do to bring Job where He wanted him to be. Even though he was a man, blameless, fearing God and hating evil, He brought him that amount better than what he was before that. As a result, God did bestow upon Job all of the good feeling things. He had a new family given to him. He had more riches given to him. But he was a much wiser man and his level of God-fearing and hating of evil was probably that much greater. He did ultimately get to that good feeling part of the blessings.
Were the trials and sufferings that he experienced really part of the blessing? I'm looking at it from God's point of view. Could be.
I want to leave this on an upnote and read some things that others have read before me (Richard, for one). Revelation 21 is the ultimate blessing, the ultimate thing that we are waiting for. And the things that we are experiencing, and dealing with the things that we have to deal with now, are so we can have this blessing bestowed upon us by the Most High God.
Jumping down to verse 7,I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. There was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from out of heaven from God, made ready for a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne saying "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them and they shall be His people and God Himself shall be among them. He will wipe away every tear from their eye and there shall no longer be any death. There shall no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away." (Revelation 21:1-4)
In the meantime I guess we have to bite the bullet as the saying goes. (I'm not sure how Erwin translates that into French). We can take something of a Pauline approach to the thing as the apostle Paul states in verse 11 of Philippians 4. I'll begin in verse 10.He who overcomes shall inherit all these things [and here is something I really feel is a clincher on the whole thing], and I will be his God and he will be My son.
Then of course we know that Paul was afflicted in various ways that are not specifically revealed, but he had his afflictions. In verse 11, again this is for us that we might emulate until such time as we have that Revelation 21 fulfillment, he says,But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity.
Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.
JFB/jjm/
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