"Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God." (vv.1-2)
This was the purpose of God for His people but, the fulfillment was conditional upon their obedience. They were to act above all the nations of the earth; "If thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to observe to do all His commandments." Having made this general declaration, Moses proceeded to describe the blessings that would follow obedience (v.3-14) and then the evils that would overtake them, if the law of God should be disregarded. (v.15-66)
The word “if” looms large. In this chapter, Moses exhorted the nation with choice. The covenant God made with Israel contained three major features: The law, the sacrifice, and the choice. The idea behind the choice is that God was determined to reveal Himself to the world through Israel. He would do this either by making them so blessed that the world would know only God could have blessed them so; or by making them so cursed that only God could have cursed them and cause them to still survive. The choice was up to Israel.
Therefore, if Israel would obey the LORD, He would set them high above all nations of the earth, and the blessings would be so powerful that they would come upon you and overtake you. They wouldn’t be able to escape the blessings.
Interestingly enough our nation was established by God-fearing people who sought freedom from religious persecution, who's forefathers sought divine guidance in writing the constitution and had as its moral compass the Bible. However it has now become overrun with corruption on every level. Today God’s Word is so far from our guiding light as a nation, that I fear the US is headed for an eventual national fall, the likes of the Amalekites.
We too were once a blessed nation above all nations, but now we are spiraling downward on so many levels; political, economic, social and even compromising within the church. How do we stop it? The answer lies in todays’ scripture, “If you fully obey the Lord your God . . . He will set you high above all the nations on earth.” If not, we are headed for destruction.
The Truth: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord..” (Psalm 33:12)
