Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 11:26-28)

In the previous devotion we discussed the importance of hearing as it relates to obedience and the subsequent blessing that comes when we “hear” (shema). Today I want to focus on the word that is translated as “curse” — the result of not hearing and not obeying. The Hebrew root word is קלל kalal which means “to diminish in substance; to lessen material things.” The inference then, is when we refuse to hear and obey, the first evidence of the “curse” might be a hit to the pocketbook — our substance will be diminished.

Obviously, there are far more important things than money and material wealth, however, these are the very things that many people pay most attention to. Ironically, these things are often the evidence of the blessing that came as a result of hearing and obeying. But when we stop up our ears and refuse to hear His voice (Hebrew word קל kol or “voice” is related to kalal), this typically leads to a rejection of the true God and a longing for “other gods.” In short, not hearing God’s voice equates to idolatry and the subsequent curse, which might negatively affect one of the biggest gods men bow to — wealth.

Paul said that, “Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:9-10). Furthermore, he said that we are to flee from such things and, instead, pursue righteousness. In other words, we should close our ears to the voices of men who incite pursuit of temporal things and open our ears to hear the Voice of our Master. As He said, we can’t have two masters, so let us reaffirm our allegiance to the One and Only God who is the source of all that we need, both temporal and eternal.

Blessings and Shalom,  

Bill 

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