It All Works Together

Tuesday March 3, 2026

It all works together.  I ask you to be patient as you read this blog.  It might seem disjointed at times, but it all works together.  There were quite a few nuggets I discovered in our reading today, so let me share.  First, in our Deuteronomy text, Israel was commanded to faithfully obey the Lord and to follow His commands (Deuteronomy 28:1).  They were instructed not to turn aside to the left or right (v.14).  Left or right of what?  Answer, God’s commands.  There is no subjective line, therefore, making turning to left or right subjective or obscure.  Blessings are promised for obedience, but curses for disobedience.  We might be led to believe that the curses are just weakened promises.  For example, instead of giving you a bumper crop, God will give you enough for what you need, but no extra.  Listen to just one of the curses that God promised to bring upon them if they disobeyed:  “Your sons and daughters will be given to another people, while your eyes grow weary looking for them every day.  But you will be powerless to do anything” (v.32).  It actually gets much worse.  Midway through the curses, we are given a reminder of how God desired it and how it could have been.  These curses are “Because you didn’t serve the Lord your God with joy and a cheerful heart, even though you had an abundance of everything” (v.47).  God had given them so much and God’s commands were for their good.  If only they would have trusted God, they could have obeyed His commands joyfully and cheerfully.  This is a very important perspective that we must keep.  Finally, I briefly mentioned, but want to reiterate that God promised to bring these curses just as much as He promised the blessings (v.63).  Now, lest you think like many others before us, that we will be like Frank Sinatra and do it my way, God warns, “I will have peace even though I follow my own stubborn heart” (Deuteronomy 29:19).  This will lead to destruction and the Lord will not be willing to forgive him (v.20).  Our Deuteronomy text for the day concludes, “The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29). What are the revealed things?  Answer, the commands and instructions of God.  All Israel needed to do was trust the Lord.  They would show that trust by following God’s commands and not turning to other gods.  This leads to our psalm for the day.  “I am at rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will never be shaken” (Psalm 62:1).  We read again, “Rest in God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from Him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will not be shaken” (v.5).  Let us not get caught up on other things and let us not get caught up on the hidden things for they do not belong to us.  Let us look to God alone and what He has graciously revealed to us by His Word and let us faithfully follow all that God has instructed with joyful and cheerful hearts.  We will find rest in God alone!