Proverbs 3:33

A curse may be hanging over your home! There are two possibilities. Either the curse of the LORD Jehovah is hanging there, ready to fall, or the blessing of the only true and living God is there. The difference in outcomes is incredible; the conditions are simple. You do not want to play around with the curse, and you do not want to miss the blessing.

When the LORD curses, no man or group of men can bless. When the LORD blesses, no man or confederacy of men can curse. Balak, king of Moab, hired Balaam to curse Israel, in order to save Moab, but God blessed Israel and cursed Moab (Num 22:1 – 24:25). God loves to turn the plans and works of the wicked upside down – on their own heads (Ps 9:16-17). Consider what God did to the houses of Haman and Mordecai. What a contrast!

These are the facts of life, and you are not going to alter them. “There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD” (Pr 21:30). “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered” (Pr 11:21). Prudence and safety say to flee His curse by any means. Wisdom and prosperity say to seek His blessing by any means. This matter is of great importance to you today.

The LORD said to Israel, “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse” (Deut 11:26). And this proverb sets before each reader a blessing or a curse. What will you do with this choice? How seriously do you even read the words today? If you continue in your wicked ways, the curse is coming; if you repent and do justly, blessing is coming. If you do not think it matters, read the details of His blessings and curses (Lev 26; Deut 28).

A wicked man and his family are going to suffer, because the sword of divine justice hangs over them. A righteous man and his family are going to prosper, because God smiles upon them. Here is simple wisdom to bless your home and family or to guarantee their ruin. What will you do? “The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked: but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness” (Pr 21:12).

God told the priests of Israel, “And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay 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, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it” (Mal 2:1-3). Not very pretty! This is the God of the Bible.

Will you hear? Will you lay it to your heart? Will you give glory to His name? You can easily find out.

Are you thinking, living, and doing everything God expects? Everything written in His Word? Everything you have heard rightly preached? Everything the holy men and women of Scripture would have done? Where are you cheating? What are you compromising? If you are compromising or cheating in any part of your life, do not look up. Angry storm clouds are gathering over your home and house. The way of sinners is hard, and it can get far worse than you think or have ever experienced yet (Pr 13:15).

What influences your choices, habits, lifestyle, and worldview? You cannot allow family, peers, the world, or your own sinful flesh to influence your choices. You must change to God’s rules for your life. If what you saw and heard from your parents was wrong, you must change. What the world does around you in moral matters is certainly wrong. You must ignore peer pressure. Habits are only worth having if they are based on the Bible. A true Christian is a changed person, for they turn from sin to follow Christ (II Cor 5:17).

What are the conditions for His blessing? Are they costly and difficult? Read carefully His answer by Micah, “Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:6-8).

This proverb applies to churches as well, which are the houses and habitations of God by the Spirit (Eph 2:19-22; I Tim 3:15). The church of Israel was called Ichabod, when the glory of God departed, and they were cursed with Philistines (I Sam 4:12-22). Churches today, playing with carnal living and wicked hearts, will also be deprived of the glory of God, when the Son of man walks among His candlesticks (Rev 1:9-20; 2:5). Yet the same glorious Lord seeks fellowship with the churches that truly desire Him (Rev 3:20).