Proverbs 10:30. The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked will not inhabit the earth.
Oh Friends, it surely must have been days like these, hot and muggy, that encouraged John Sebastian of Loving Spoonful fame, to write these simple but provocative words, some forty odd years ago. ‘Hot town, summer in the city, Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty. Cool cat, looking for a kitty. Going to look in every corner of the city,’ And it doesn’t seem as though there’s going to be much let up all this coming week. The temps will remain in the high twenties, with no apparent rain in the offing either. Some people claim to have had some decent showers yesterday morning, but in my neck of the woods all we had were darkened skies, some thunder and a sprinkling of heavenly blessing that lasted less than five minutes, then the sunshine reigned supreme for the rest of the day. But just remember Friends, regardless of our personal situations, the Mighty, Omnipotent One who created all that there is, is our God, and like the sun, He’s still reigning on His heavenly throne, therefore in light of all the generous promises He’s given us, we have nothing to fear, if we walk in humble obedience to His law. Now that’s a good Bruh Paulian sentence; long and complex. (smile) And our Bit confirms what’s stated in that sentence. ‘The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked will not inhabit the earth (land).’ That’s just one more thing, another of God’s promises we can stand strong on Friends, that we can put our trust in, surrender our freedom of choice to. If Jesus, who knew the Father intimately, could trust Him to come to earth as a man, and suffer as men do, to sacrifice His holy, sinless life for unworthy sinners, then be lifted back up to Him in glory, who are we, mere sinful mortals, to question the Almighty eh? Today we’ll continue looking at some of those curses and blessings that are found throughout the Good Book, especially the Old Testament. And first up are words from Malachi, when the Lord rebuked Israel’s unfaithfulness for the umpteenth time: ‘And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay (take) it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will corrupt your seed (rebuke your descendants), and spread dung (refuse) upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it…For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law (shown partiality).’ (Mal.2:1-3, 7-9) That one is for priests in particular Friends! And aren’t there lots of them around today who fit that description? For sure! However people, not everyone that suffers affliction has necessarily fallen under a curse of God, but everyone who continually disobeys God’s law, will pay a hefty price. A good example of that is Job. There the Lord allowed Lucifer to run roughshod over Job, not because he was unrighteous, but to prove his righteousness. His Friend Bildad, though wrong about Job’s unrighteousness, did have some truthful words to say: ‘If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake (arise) for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous. Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.’ (Job 8:6-7) So my brethren, it’s quite possible to be fairly righteous here on earth, and yet suffer serious affliction. But there’s always a greater good, a higher reason of God than we can understand for any misfortune that befalls us, because He’s faithfully promised to work everything out for our good. And we all know that after Job humbled himself and prayed for his friends who wrongly accused him, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he previously had, so faithfully fulfilling Bildad’s words above. Therefore my people, it is definitely in our best interest to obediently serve and worship the Creator and Controller of the universe. And we’ll end with some scriptures where Moses clearly spells it all out to the Israelites. ‘Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which he have not known.’ (Deut.11:26-28) And I particularly like this verse: ‘I call heaven and earth to record (as witnesses) this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.’ (Deut.30:19) Oh Friends, please let’s take Moses’ words to heart and do them nuh, so that our families may enjoy God’s eternal blessings. It’s an act of eternal wisdom. Much LOVE!…cast not away therefore your confidence…which hath great recompense of reward…for ye have need of patience (endurance)…that, after ye have done the will of God…ye might receive the promise… (Heb.10:35-36)
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