Today’s Scripture: Deuteronomy 28:19

“Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.”

What are the effects of the curse? According to George Smeaton, the worst effect “is the loss of God, or the absence and complete withdrawal of God from a human soul.” I’m sure many people think they would be happy to lose him. But remember that as Jesus hung on the cross bearing the curse in our place, he cried in anguish, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).

In Deuteronomy 28, Moses listed God’s promised blessings for Israel’s obedience of God’s law (verses 1-14) and his curses for disobedience (verses 15-68). The threatened curses were horrible beyond anything imaginable. For example, it includes a siege so severe that women would be driven to cannibalize their own children.

These promised blessings and threatened curses were only temporal in nature, having to do with the nation of Israel in the Promised Land. Then consider that the severity of these threatened curses only begins to picture the unimaginable agony of being under God’s curse for all eternity.

Above all, when we think the curse for violating God’s law is too severe, it’s because we don’t understand God or the nature of sin. God is transcendent in his majesty and sovereign in his authority. Every sin, be it ever so small in our eyes, is an assault on that authority. In effect we’re saying, “I don’t care what you say; I’ll do as I please.” Furthermore, God has commanded us to be holy as he is holy. Therefore, each sin is an insult to his character. It’s as if we’re telling God, “I don’t want to be like you.” Think what a rebellious affront it would be for a child to say that to his parent.

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