Deuteronomy 28:58-68 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Deuteronomy 28:58-68. Let’s go!
Deuteronomy 28:58-68 (NIV)
58 If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name–the LORD your God–
59 the LORD will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses.
60 He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you.
61 The LORD will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed.
62 You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the LORD your God.
63 Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.
64 Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods–gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.
65 Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart.
66 You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life.
67 In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!”–because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.
68 The LORD will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.
On verses 58-68: In Deuteronomy 28:58-67, we read about another problem that the Israelites would face if they did not carefully follow the law of Moses: Moses says that God will send plagues, sicknesses, and diseases on them. The end result is that the Israelites will be full of anxiety, worry, fear and despair (v65-67) and ultimately give themselves as slaves to a foreign nation (v68).
What can we learn from this? Here are 3 lessons I learned based on today’s passage:
1. God’s commands were given to us for our health and peace of mind. When we love God’s Word and live according to it, the result is we have a healthy attitude, healthier relationships and a healthy perspective on life. This in turn aids our physical health. On the other hand, when we ignore God’s principles for living, it wreaks havoc on our attitude, our relationships and our perspective. We become full of worry, stress, bitterness, and anxiety, which in turn damages our physical health. That’s why Proverbs 4:20-22 says, “My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body.”
So let’s pay attention to what God says and listen closely to His words. For God’s commands were given to us so that we could experience life and health.
2. You might say, “JB, today’s passage doesn’t just say that if the Israelites disobey God’s Word, they will become sick. It says that God will send the sickness to them. It even says ‘it will please Him to ruin and destroy’ those who are disobedient (v63). How could a loving God send sickness and diseases on the people He loves? If God is so loving, how can it ‘please Him’ to ruin and destroy His people (v63)?” Good questions.
When verse 63 says “it will please Him to ruin and destroy you”, it doesn’t mean that it makes God feel good to ruin and destroy His people. Rather, it’s saying that God is a just God who hates evil and punishes wrongdoing. When He punishes a sinner for doing wrong, His principles of justice are satisfied. However, as we see elsewhere in Scripture, it grieves God’s heart to see His people suffer.
Also, keep in mind that back in Moses’ time and throughout much of the Old Testament, the mindset was that everything — both good and bad — comes directly from God. For example, in 1 Samuel 18 when King Saul was tormented by an evil spirit, the Scriptures say that this evil spirit was sent “from God”. It’s because people throughout much of the Old Testament believed that everything both good and bad comes from God. That’s why Deuteronomy 28 reads as if God consciously and purposefully sent sicknesses and diseases, as if He directly and intentionally made His people sick.
But when you read the New Testament, we get a more defined picture of God. Rather than seeing everything as coming from God, Jesus and the New Testament writers make a couple distinctions:
First, the New Testament says that everything good is from God (James 1:17). Every good gift you have in life is God’s gift to you.
Second, when it comes to things that we consider bad, like sickness, sin or someone going to hell, these are not things that God wants. Rather they are things that God allows in a world broken by sin, where people are free to make their own choices and often make the wrong choices.
Do the Old Testament and New Testament contradict each other? No. Rather, the New Testament goes past the surface of the Old Testament. Through Jesus we get a fleshed out, deeper, clearer, more defined picture of who God is. So the Old Testament and the New Testament are not in conflict, but rather one builds on the other and completes the other. From the OT and the NT together we see that God is good. He is not the author of our sickness and wanting us to perish, but the author of our salvation and healing (2 Peter 3:9).
So is COVID 19 something God sent to punish sinners? No, I don’t believe so. I don’t believe God is sending coronavirus as an expression of his wrath against our sin. That’s because God already placed all of His wrath incited by our sin on Jesus Christ, who died for us on the cross. God loved us so much that He let His own Son suffer and die so that sinners like us could escape the greatest kind of suffering.
We can’t know all the reasons why God allows COVID 19, but we do know that God’s agenda in this COVID 19 season is not to kill us and punish us, but to save us. So in this COVID 19 season, let’s humble ourselves, submit to God, and do our best to share the contagious hope we have in Jesus with the people around us who need it.
3. Finally, maybe you think, “Well, I know some people who don’t care about obeying God and yet they seem to be happy, healthy and free of problems. Why doesn’t God allow some kind of disease or sickness to punish them like He says in Deuteronomy 28:58-68?” You’re not the first person to ask this question. Writers in the Bible like Asaph in Psalm 73 asked this same question too. The fact is, while all of us deserve to die for our sins, God patiently waits for us to come to Him before it’s too late.
As 2 Peter 3:9 says, “God is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
Thank You Lord for giving us Your commands so that we could experience life and health in every way. Thank You for being a just and good God. You are not the author of our sickness, but the healer of our sickness. You do not delight in our suffering, but instead You let Your own Son Jesus Christ suffer and die on the cross for us. Thank You for waiting so patiently for us to come to You. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
