Blessing and Curses

I'm reading through Deuteronomy 28 and I'm overwhelmed by the weight of blessings and curses.  Moses is encouraging and warning the people.  He is telling them if they faithfully obey the Lord and carefully follow all of his commands, God would place them far above all the nations of the earth (Deu. 28:1).  He goes on to list all the blessings they would receive.  Their land would be blessed and produce an abundance of food.  Their offspring would be many and they would not be in need.  God would give them peace from all of their enemies.  God would establish them as a holy people if they obey the commands of the Lord and walk in his ways (Deu. 28:9).  In verse 10 he says, "Then all the people of the earth will see that you bear the Lord's name, and they will stand in awe of you."  

Moses then turns to what will happen to them if they do not obey the Lord.  All the blessings will turn to curses.  The land would reject them and they would be plagued by disease.  They would lose everything and their enemies would overtake them and they would be scattered as a people. Reading the list of things that would happen to them is long and detailed and its overwhelming to read.  The sad reality is as you read the rest of the story you know Israel would in fact turn from God and would suffer greatly.   

I cannot help reading this to be overwhelmed by my own sin and how I fall short of God's standard.  I have failed on many levels and I am at God's mercy.  Which makes me all the more thankful for Jesus Christ.  Because God knows our condition and he knows our hearts are hard and we can't and we don't want to follow God.  But there is hope, though we are dead in our trespasses and sin, God who is rich in mercy and because of his great love for us made us alive in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:4).  In his grace, he makes us a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) and he replaces our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh.  He has put his Spirit within us that moves us to follow his statues and to observe his ordinances (Ezekiel 36:26-27).   

God has had mercy on us, he saw our helpless condition and has had pity on us. "For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).  You have before you a blessing and a curse, believe and live!