1Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.

2And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm,

3And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land;

4And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD hath destroyed them unto this day;

5And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place;

6And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel:

7But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which he did.

8Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it;

9And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

10For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:

11But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:

12A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

13And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

14That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

15And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.

16Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

17And then the LORD's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.

18Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

19And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

20And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:

21That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

22For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;

23Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.

24Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.

25There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.

26Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;

27A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:

28And 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 ye have not known.

29And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.

30Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh?

31For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein.

32And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.

COMMENTARY by Dr. Dave Burnette

Written By: God through Inspiration

Penned By: Moses

Date Penned: (1407 BC)

Overview: To Remind and Rededicate Israel to the Lord (c 1-34)

Theme: Principles for Godly Living (c 5-28)

Message: Choose Between Blessings and Cursings (v 1-32)

Deuteronomy 11 Commentary

(11:1) Love and Obedience - The Israelites were to love and obey God. Obedience without love is legalism at best and forced bondage at worst. Love without obedience is nothing more than a powerful feeling that fades away for lack of commitment to the relationship. If you start your relationship with God only with obedience, you may never experience real love, because you won't understand the purpose behind that obedience. If you start only with loving feelings, you will lack the commitment to do what God knows is best for you. This will kill your trust in him, which is the essential ingredient for a real relationship. But if you understand how deeply God loves you and that he has set a plan in motion for your eternal good, you will truly love and want to obey him because you will be excited to watch how his loving plan will unfold in your life.

(11:7) Faith to Obey the Lord - The Israelites had strong reasons to believe in God and obey his commands. They had witnessed a parade of mighty miracles that demonstrated his love and care for them. But incredibly, they still had trouble remaining faithful to him. Because few of us have seen such dramatic miracles, it may seem even more difficult for us to obey God and remain faithful to him. But we have the Bible, the written record of God's acts throughout history. Reading God's Word gives us a panoramic view of the miracles the Israelites saw and others they didn't see. Scripture gives us lessons from the past, instructions for the present, and glimpses into the future that provide many opportunities for us to strengthen our faith in God.

(11:26) The Curse of God - What is the curse God was talking about? It is not a magician's spell. To understand it, we must remember the conditions of the covenant between God and Israel. Both parties had agreed to the terms. If the Israelites kept their part of the covenant, they would experience the blessings: They would receive the land, live there forever, have fruitful crops, and expel their enemies. The curse would fall on the Israelites only if they broke their agreement; then they would forfeit God's blessings and would be in danger of crop failure, invasion, and expulsion from their land. Joshua later reviewed these blessings and curses with the entire nation (Joshua 8:34).

(11:27) Blessings or Curse - It is amazing that God set before the Israelites a choice between a blessing and a curse. It is even more amazing that most of them, through their disobedience, chose the curse. We have the same fundamental choice today: We can live for ourselves or live in service to God. To choose our own way is to travel on a dead-end road, but to choose God's way is to receive eternal life (John 5:24).

LIFE APPLICATION by Dr. Dave Burnette

Each day we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter making an application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. Many applications can be made from each day's text. Today we continue in the book of Deuteronomy with Chapter 11 and we see another simple but powerful principle in verse 26 of Blessings and Cursing. When presented a free will decision we have the choice to obey or disobey the Lord. The blessing of obedience is a chain of events that the Lord intervenes providing His provisions, situations, and circumstances to walk through the decision. While the curse is a chain of events that do not include the hand of God. In making application It reminds me of a poor decision I made when purchasing a vehicle early in our marriage. I financed a car after being convicted to not take on any debt. The vehicle seemed to be the right decision in my flesh but I knew in my spirit in was the Wrong Decision. After many months of not being able to make the payments the car was repossessed. How embarrassing not to mention a poor testimony. There me, my wife, and 2 little kids were with no car. My wife said I can try to finance a car in my name and again the decision to obey or disobey what the Lord had convicted us on. We said "NO" Lord we are gong to obey you. At that very instant the phone rang and a friend of mine said "I have a car that the I believe the Lord would have me give you" It was an older model that we drove for over a year till we could save up for another one which we paid cash. Praise the Lord. A true Blessing of the Lord. A chain of events where the Lord intervened and provided our need. How about You? Do you see the principle of Blessings and Cursing in your life? Let us learn from today's text and choose to Obey the Word of the Lord and be Blessed of the Lord.

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