Inviting The Curse
Zeke Flores
God’s method of instruction has always been to set the options out before His people and let them make the choice. He has made sure they can know the blessings that come from obedience but He also ensures that they understand the consequences of disobedience. This He did with Adam and Eve. He told them of the delicacies they could freely enjoy from any tree of the garden but He also told them plainly what the result would be from eating from one certain restricted tree. (Gen 2:16-17) Of course, we know how that turned out.
As Israel was preparing to enter the promised land, Moses reminded the people of the choices set before them. “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.” (Deut 30:15-20) By the clear depiction of the reward and punishment, the choice should have been an easy one. But, we know how that turned out too.
Why do some people subject themselves to the suffering and heartache in their lives by the trouble resulting from sin? Of course, I believe the answer is simple but trying to get people to see the truth and break the habit is more difficult. One denominational preacher recently said, “If trouble comes to you from demonic activity, the demons assume by your life that you have invited them.” While I’m not convinced of present supernatural activity by demons, I think the basic premise has some merit. Could we be inviting at least some of the trouble we experience by the lives we live?
In our litigious society, its always easy to point the finger of blame at someone else instead of taking responsibility for our own actions. People are cursed by the results of activity in their lives and then wonder “Why is this happening to me?” The person suffering from a sexually transmitted disease ignores the fact that their own immoral sexual activity was the cause for their trouble. The inmate sitting in jail conveniently forgets the fact that he’s there, not because of a mean judge or unfair jury, but because he committed the crime.
Some curses are generational in that sometimes the children have to suffer the consequences of their parents’ sin and may even perpetuate it. Consider the tragic cycle of domestic violence. A man may consider that since his father beat his mother, his own violent tendencies toward his wife may have some root in that. Or the mother who abuses her children may think back to the same behaviors that she witnessed from her own mother when she was younger. Of course, none of this excuses a single one of us. God has said plainly, “The person who sins shall die” (Ezek 18:20) so each one of us is responsible for our conduct no matter what the roots of that conduct. Each one makes his own choices.
While some trouble comes to you through no fault of your own, you may still invite the consequences of sin by the actions you initiate. That’s the simple answer. The more difficult concept is to really inspect yourself and consider what results are the aftermath of what behaviors. Are some of your relationships suffering? What are you doing to make them better or worse (Eph 4:31-32)? Do you notice you do certain things with certain people that you wouldn’t do with others? Do your friends have an impact on what you do (1 Cor 15:33)? Is your spirituality wavering? What are you doing to deepen your relationship with God (2 Tim 2:15, 2 Pet 1:3)? Are you inviting the curse by your life instead of the blessing? You have the choice!
