what happens if...

Deuteronomy 28:1 "If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the world.2 You will experience all these blessings if you obey the LORD your God:

3 Your towns and your fields
  will be blessed.
4 Your children and your crops
  will be blessed.
The offspring of your herds and flocks
  will be blessed.
5 Your fruit baskets and breadboards
  will be blessed.
6 Wherever you go and whatever you do,
  you will be blessed.

  7 "The LORD will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven!

  8 "The LORD will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your storehouses with grain. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

  9 "If you obey the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways, the LORD will establish you as his holy people as he swore he would do. 10 Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the LORD, and they will stand in awe of you.

  11 "The LORD will give you prosperity in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, blessing you with many children, numerous livestock, and abundant crops. 12 The LORD will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. 13 If you listen to these commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom. 14 You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving you today, nor follow after other gods and worship them.


Now the rest of the chapter is about what will happen to you if you DON'T obey Him. It's about 4 times as long as this passage & it's pretty scary!



It's interesting that I was also slated to read Psalm 52, which is all about what happens if you disobey God & do evil things. It doesn't give those kinds of folks much slack or hope. The psalm ends like this...

Psalm 52: 8 But I am like an olive tree, thriving in the house of God.
  I will always trust in God's unfailing love.
9 I will praise you forever, O God,
  for what you have done.
I will trust in your good name
  in the presence of your faithful people.


And I was also slated to read John 10, & this verse came off the page...

John 10:10 The thief's (read: devil) purpose is to steal, kill, & destroy. My (Jesus) purpose is to bring life in all its fullness.