A Canadian farmer got a signed contract via text from a grain purchaser consortium. He sent back a thumbs-up emoji. The farmer was saying with the thumb “I got your message”. However, the grain purchaser group saw it differently. They saw “the thumb” as “The deal is done”. But the figures weren’t what the farmer had in mind. This week, a judge ruled that the thumb was as good as a signature. It costs the farmer $48,000. Not every deal is a good deal, so you’ve got to be careful with “the thumb.”
God presented Israel with a covenant (a God deal if you will) in Deuteronomy 28. It was the second giving of the Law and the Covenant to a new generation at Mount Nebo. The old generation nearly blew their deal with God because of a golden calve idol at Mount Sinai. Now, this new generation had a choice: blessings or curses. The details were in the text:
1"Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2"All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God: 3"Blessed [shall] you [be] in the city, and blessed [shall] you [be] in the country. Deut. 28:1-3
There were 13 verses (clauses, if you will) of blessings in the covenant contract. Those blessings included:
Prosperity in the reproduction of children and livestock. (v.4)
Baskets will never be empty of food. (v.5)
Protection in transportation. Wherever they set foot will be a safe step. (v.6)
Victory in battle. (v.7)
Harvests shall be plenteous, barns full, land bountiful. (v.8)
You will have a reputation of holiness. You will be respected as God’s people. (vs. 9 and 10)
You will have an unlimited credit line. In fact, you will never have to use it.
"The LORD will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. Deut. 28:12
So bountiful are the blessings, they will “overtake” you. In the business world, as contracts go, that would be called “sweet deal”.
On the other hand, God’s Deuteronomy 28 contract also was transparent about the downside of being on the wrong side of His offer. There are 53 verses that point out the curses that come with disobedience. So deleterious are these curses, they will overtake you:
15"But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you. Deut. 28:15
Here are a few of the curses in the contract.
You will experience curses, confusion and chaos that will bring quick destruction. (v.20)
isease and plagues will eat you up. (v. 21,22)
Your harvest labor will be heavy like iron. Your rain will be dust. (v. 23)
You will be defeated by enemies at every turn. Your bodies will litter the ground. (v. 25, 26)
Mental illness, blindness and depression will be your diagnosis. (v. 28)
Your wives will be unfaithful, your homes will be foreclosed on and lived in by other people, and your gardens will feed others while you starve. (v. 30)
You will watch you children enslaved and you won’t be able to do anything. (v.32)
You will go into exile under the heavy hand of cruel kings. Then things will really get bad—cannibalism:
53"Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you. Deut. 28: 53
In business parlance, the disobedience curses clause were a “deal killer’.
As it was for the Mount Nebo generation, the Deuteronomy 28 deal has been texted to you.
If you thumbs-up to obedience and the right deal offered by the only true God, your life will be blessed. If you thumbs-up to disobedience, it will be a bad deal. You may never recover your investment of your misguided faith.
Beware of the thumb.
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