Deuteronomy 11:26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse — 27 the blessing, if you listen to the mitzvot of YHVH your God that I am giving you today; 28 and the curse, if you don’t listen to the mitzvot of YHVH your God, but turn aside from the way I am ordering you today and follow other gods that you have not known.
29 “When YHVH your God brings you into the land you are entering in order to take possession of it, you are to put the blessing on Mount G’rizim and the curse on Mount ‘Eival. 30 Both are west of the Yarden, in the direction of the sunset, in the land of the Kena‘ani living in the ‘Aravah, across from Gilgal, near the pistachio trees of Moreh. 31 For you are to cross the Yarden to enter and take possession of the land YHVH your God is giving you; you are to own it and live in it. 32 And you are to take care to follow all the laws and rulings I am setting before you today.
This is pretty simple: if you listen, there is blessing. If not, a curse. Before we really get going, let’s make sure we understand the difference between a blessing and a curse.
Contrary to popular opinion, a blessing does not mean “more” and a curse does not mean “less”. These are prosperity terms and they are not necessarily Biblical.
Let’s first look at the curse:
H7045 קְלָלָה qlalah (kel-aw-law')
The curse is a tool to help lead you to repentance. By making you feel as though you have no value, it encourages you to lay down the worthless ways you’ve adopted and turn into the safety provided through walking with the flock.
When trouble and trials come, it is helpful to ask 3 questions:
#1 is the easiest to correct. It just requires learning His ways and changing how you live. #2 is the most difficult of the three and is beyond the scope of what we’re covering here today.
#3 is by far the most glorious of them all. Abba’s direct enemy now sees you as a threat. What better thing than to have the ruler of this world hate you because you have decided to abandon the ways of the world in favor of the ways of the One who rules over the entire universe..
We naturally default to #3 and claim that it must be the devil that is causing all of our problems but this is seldom the case. Our disobedience and selfishness serve as the greatest fuel for the troubles we face.
So, what about the blessing?
H1293 בְּרָכָה Brakah (ber-aw-kaw')
Contrary to a light stature and worthless value, He now sees you as His child. Bending His knee to look you in the eyes. What greater gift can a Father give His child than this?
If you are under the curse, the Creator of the universe will seek you out the way a grieving father would leave his entire life behind to go after his lost child. Falling at your feet in order to fully embrace what was once lost. If you return.
The prodigal son repented -- yet he didn’t even make it all the way back into the house before his father greeted him with an unfathomable joy:
Luke 15:17 “At last he came to his senses and said, ‘Any number of my father’s hired workers have food to spare; and here I am, starving to death! 18 I’m going to get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against Heaven and against you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired workers.” ’ 20 So he got up and started back to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran and threw his arms around him and kissed him warmly. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son — ’ 22 but his father said to his slaves, ‘Quick, bring out a robe, the best one, and put it on him; and put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet; 23 and bring the calf that has been fattened up, and kill it. Let’s eat and have a celebration! 24 For this son of mine was dead, but now he’s alive again! He was lost, but now he has been found!’ And they began celebrating.”
This lost son realized he was not worthy to be welcomed back into sonship. The curse had done its job. This young man had to be brought low in order for him to be lifted up.
One thing to note here was that he had the worldly “blessing” from the very beginning. It took that going away in order for the true blessing to come. Decrease so that he may increase.
But do we need to go through all of this in order to be welcomed home?
No.
Deuteronomy 12:1 Here are the laws and rulings you are to observe and obey in the land YHVH, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess as long as you live on earth.
We have a progression that seems to define the path every believer should take on the way to their face-to-face encounter with Abba.
In the midst of darkness, He provides a path. Once we become born again, we need to take care to remove the obstacles in the earth and replace them with the ways of the Kingdom.
So our journey begins:
We’re going to stop here along the path outlined in Deuteronomy 12-26 and open this up for a deeper inspection.
There is only one decision you must make as a believer: Will you choose to stay with your Master after your temporary time dwelling with Him has passed? Or will you walk away and live your own life?
Most believers are convinced they have made the decision to be a bondservant of our Messiah -- until you listen to their words and look at their life.
So many of us are fully in charge of our own lives. We make our own judgments against others. We manipulate people and situations in order for our pain to go down or our power to go up, or sometimes to get both.
It’s time to get over ourselves.
Our Master was nailed to a stake, spilled all of His blood and gave up His life -- for you. But for us, we are only asked to have our ear nailed to a door and maybe a drop of blood is spilled. But the outcome is the same: you have to give up your life.
A bondservant willfully gives up their lives for the sake of their Master. Not for what they can get, but what they can give.
But most people can’t stand the thought of giving up their lifestyles in exchange for a real life. More to the point, they can’t give up their pain and past wounds in exchange for a real life. The familiar spirits are far too comforting to abandon so we do the next best thing: we lie and say one thing while living something completely different. But the only person you’re fooling is you.
Something happens when your ear is nailed to that door. That thing you hear with is attached to the door of the house. To be more specific, it’s nailed to the door of THE House.
When you hear anything going forward (oppressors, familiar spirits, liars), it is all filtered through the ways of the House. All of it.
If you choose to become a bondservant, all of your life decisions are no longer yours. This isn’t a philosophical exercise. This is reality. You now literally represent the Master. Your actions tell others who you serve. There should even be a mark upon you that declares your dedication to your Master. No more hiding in plain sight. There is a boldness that goes before you because you are not ashamed.
You can finally be set free by putting yourself into voluntary servitude.
Becoming a bondservant is rooted in love.
Deuteronomy 15:16 But if he says to you, ‘I don’t want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your household, and because his life with you is a good one; 17 then take an awl, and pierce his ear through, right into the door; and he will be your slave forever.
And how do we know we love Him?
John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commands; 16 and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another comforting Counselor like me, the Spirit of Truth, to be with you forever. 17 The world cannot receive him, because it neither sees nor knows him. You know him, because he is staying with you and will be united with you. 18 I will not leave you orphans — I am coming to you. 19 In just a little while, the world will no longer see me; but you will see me. Because I live, you too will live. 20 When that day comes, you will know that I am united with my Father, and you with me, and I with you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me, and the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”
And what about His household? This is your brother.
1 John 4:19 We ourselves love now because he loved us first. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar. For if a person does not love his brother, whom he has seen, then he cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 Yes, this is the command we have from him: whoever loves God must love his brother too.
While this seems simple enough, the world convinces you it may not actually be worth it.
When trouble and trials come upon a bondservant, it is all happening because of obedience to the Master. He even tells us this is the case:
Matthew 24:1: "Then you will be handed over to be tormented and killed, and you will be hated by all the nations because of me."
Matthew 5:11: "You are blessed when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil things against you because of me."
Matthew 10:22: "You will be hated by all people because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved."
John 15:18-21: "Remember what I told you: ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they kept my word, they will keep yours as well. But they will do all these things to you because of my name, because they don't know the one who sent me."
Choose today how you will live your life:
Deuteronomy 11:26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse — 27 the blessing, if you listen to the mitzvot of YHVH your God that I am giving you today; 28 and the curse, if you don’t listen to the mitzvot of YHVH your God, but turn aside from the way I am ordering you today and follow other gods that you have not known.
You can make the only decision of your life any time you choose. But if you do, put your ear close to the door of the Master’s house. The temporary pain you experience surrendering your life for your Master will become a marker for all to see. Then everyone in the earth will know the Master by how His servants treat others.
Negatively speaking, gossip will go away, manipulation will make you sick to your stomach, and the thought of judgment will terrify you. Positively, however, the love you have for those that are lost (or even in rebellion) will cause your heart to melt with compassion.
You are no longer representing your house and your own name. In fact, your name is of zero consequence. There is only one Name that carries any weight at all. So you unashamedly walk the path your Master walked. That path is towards the Father’s House and once He sees you coming, your Father will kneel before you and look you squarely in the eyes -- overjoyed that you made the decision to dwell with Him in His Kingdom.