Blessings and Curses

Today's Verses: Isaiah 1:19-20 (NIV)
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the best from the land;
20 but if you resist and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword."
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

The prophet Isaiah addresses a nation that will enter into diaspora when the Jews see their exile in Babylon. The Lord offers forgiveness to the repentant but punishment to the unrepentant.

Today's Comments: As some of you know, I use the daily feeds from prosperity gospelers Ken and Gloria Copeland to find my verses. Sometimes, like today, I have to add a verse or two so that I can bring them into contemporary understanding. The Copelands discussed only verse 19, inferring that by our obedience we should be able to claim the blessings of God. While this may be considered by some as a reasonable application, the context of this section means so much more when one considers the rampant disobedience by God's chosen people. I don't think that God is going to shower down riches just for being obedient. Instead, he uses His power to teach us His righteousness, which we can never achieve without His grace and forgiveness through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. While we should claim the many blessings that He gives to us, I believe that we must also accept the lessons that He teaches us and the corrections that He prescribes for us. It is through our own sorrow that we often understand joy; it is through our own injustice that we often understand justice; and it is through our own disobedience that we often understand obedience. Finally, I also believe that is is through our own hate, we often find what it means to love. But all of these things are not achieved on our own. For, as the second part of today's verses implies, it is through our repentance that we are able to find joy, justice, obedience, and love.