{"id":22705,"date":"2022-08-04T22:00:16","date_gmt":"2022-08-05T05:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/deuteronomy28_43-57-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-07-26T15:10:56","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T22:10:56","slug":"deuteronomy28_58-68","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/deuteronomy28_58-68\/","title":{"rendered":"Is COVID 19 God\u2019s Way of Punishing the World?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deuteronomy 28:58-68 \u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Deuteronomy 28:58-68.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 28:58-68 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n58\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If 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\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God–
\n59\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0the\u00a0LORD\u00a0will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses.
\n60\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you.
\n61\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed.
\n62\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God.
\n63\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Just as it pleased the\u00a0LORD\u00a0to 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.
\n64\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0will 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.
\n65\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the\u00a0LORD\u00a0will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart.
\n66\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life.
\n67\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In 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.
\n68\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0will 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 58-68:\u00a0 In\u00a0Deuteronomy\u00a028:58-67, 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.\u00a0 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).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 Here are 3 lessons I learned based on today’s passage:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 God’s commands were given to us for our health and peace of mind.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 This in turn aids our physical health.\u00a0 On the other hand, when we ignore God’s principles for living, it wreaks havoc on our attitude, our relationships and our perspective.\u00a0 We become full of worry, stress, bitterness, and anxiety, which in turn damages our physical health.\u00a0 That’s why Proverbs 4:20-22 says, \u201cMy son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words.\u00a0\u00a0Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart;\u00a0for they are\u00a0life to those who find them<\/u><\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0health to a man’s whole body<\/u><\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

So let’s pay attention to what God says and listen closely to His words.\u00a0 For God’s commands were given to us so that we could experience life and health.<\/p>\n

2. You might say, “JB, today’s passage doesn’t just say that if the Israelites disobey God’s Word, they will become sick.\u00a0 It says that\u00a0God\u00a0<\/em>will send the sickness to them.\u00a0 It even says ‘it will please Him to ruin and destroy’ those who are disobedient (v63).\u00a0 How could a loving God send sickness and diseases on the people He loves?\u00a0 If God is so loving, how can it ‘please Him’ to ruin and destroy His people (v63)?” \u00a0 Good questions.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 Rather, it’s saying that God is a just God who hates evil and punishes wrongdoing.\u00a0 When He punishes a sinner for doing wrong, His principles of justice are satisfied.\u00a0 However, as we see elsewhere in Scripture, it grieves God’s heart to see His people suffer.<\/p>\n

Also, keep in mind that back in Moses’ time and throughout much of the Old Testament, the mindset was that\u00a0everything\u00a0<\/em>— both good and bad — comes directly from God.\u00a0 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”.\u00a0 It’s because people throughout much of the Old Testament believed that everything both good and bad comes from God.\u00a0 That’s why\u00a0Deuteronomy\u00a028\u00a0reads as if God consciously and purposefully sent sicknesses and diseases, as if He directly and intentionally made His people sick.<\/p>\n

But when you read the New Testament, we get a more defined picture of God.\u00a0 Rather than seeing everything as coming from God, Jesus and the New Testament writers make a couple distinctions:<\/p>\n

First, the New Testament says that everything good is from God (James 1:17).\u00a0 Every good gift you have in life is God’s gift to you.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

Do the Old Testament and New Testament contradict each other?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Rather, the New Testament goes past the surface of the Old Testament.\u00a0 Through Jesus we get a fleshed out, deeper, clearer, more defined picture of who God is. \u00a0 So the Old Testament and the New Testament are not in conflict, but rather one builds on the other and completes the other.\u00a0 From the OT and the NT together we see that God is good.\u00a0 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).
\nSo is COVID 19 something God sent to punish sinners?\u00a0 No, I don\u2019t believe so.\u00a0 I don\u2019t believe God is sending coronavirus as an expression of his wrath against our sin.\u00a0 That\u2019s because God already placed all of His wrath incited by our sin on Jesus Christ, who died for us on the cross.\u00a0\u00a0God 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.<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t know all the reasons why God allows COVID 19, but we do know that God\u2019s agenda in this COVID 19 season is not to kill us and punish us, but to save us.\u00a0 So in this COVID 19 season, let\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 Why doesn’t God allow some kind of disease or sickness to punish them like He says in\u00a0Deuteronomy\u00a028:58-68?” \u00a0You’re not the first person to ask this question.\u00a0 Writers in the Bible like Asaph in Psalm 73 asked this same question too.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

As 2 Peter 3:9 says, “God is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness.\u00a0 He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”<\/p>\n

Thank You Lord for giving us Your commands so that we could experience life and health in every way.\u00a0 Thank You for being a just and good God.\u00a0 You are not the author of our sickness, but the healer of our sickness.\u00a0 You do not delight in our suffering, but instead You let Your own Son Jesus Christ suffer and die on the cross for us.\u00a0 Thank You for waiting so patiently for us to come to You.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Deuteronomy 28:58-68.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 28:58-68 (NIV)
\n58\u00a0\u00a0If 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\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God–
\n59\u00a0\u00a0the\u00a0LORD\u00a0will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses.
\n60\u00a0\u00a0He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you.
\n61\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed.
\n62\u00a0\u00a0You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God.<\/p>\n

On verses 58-68:\u00a0 In\u00a0Deuteronomy\u00a028:58-67, 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.\u00a0 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).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22705"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22708,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22705\/revisions\/22708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}