Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
March 15, 2023: SOAP #4850: Deuteronomy 28-29; Galatians 6

SCRIPTURE:  Deuteronomy (NIV) 28:13 The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. 14 Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.
15 However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: 16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. 17 Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. 18 The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

OBSERVATION:  The verses 1-14 are the word of God spoken through Moses to the children of Israel.  They tell them of God’s plans to establish them in the Promised Land.  They tell of the blessings God has in store for them if they continue to follow God’s commands. 

Then we come to the word “However.”  This is what the Israelites can expect if they do not obey.  The Lord’s blessings turn to the Lord’s curses.  Verse 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.”

APPLICATION: The “HOWEVER” set a dividing line for the Israelites.  They discovered that the God who brought them out of Egypt and gave the blessings in verses 1-14 was indeed the same God who kept His word given in the verses following verse 15. 

The scriptures show how the Israelites made the “However” to be a dividing line for God’s dealing with them. 

PRAYER:   Heavenly Father, as I enjoy the blessings of your love, may I never forget that you are holy. Holy Spirit, help me stay on the right side of the “However!”  Amen.

Pastor Leon
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