“And these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee if thou shalt harken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.” (Deut. 28:2 KJV). 

In this passage of scripture, the Holy One was about to bring a new generation of His people into the land He had promised them.  The previous generation, their fathers,  had died wandering in the wilderness for 40 years because of their disobedience and rebellion against God.  They had refused to believe God in spite of witnessing a  multitude of incredible and powerful miracles in addition to  His continual daily provision in a dry and barren land.  Their disobedience and rebellion were NOT just a one-time event.  It was the FINAL STRAW in a habitual and continual pattern of their unbelief and their unwillingness to trust the Lord (Numbers 14).

This new generation was on the threshold of realizing the fulfillment of what God had promised their fathers.  As they are about to enter in, He gave them both a promise and a warning concerning the next step they are about to take. 

The promise was that IF THEY OBEYED HIM they would experience the blessing of God in EVERY AREA of their life (Deut. 28:1-14).  They would be blessed (happy many times over) in their family, their crops, and their finances and they would be victorious over their enemies.  The warning was that IF THEY WALKED IN DISOBEDIENCE, then they would experience difficulty and hardship in every area of their life. 

The ultimate message was that they would experience joy and satisfaction in life if they obeyed the Lord.  Jesus emphasized this when He said:  “…I have come that they might have life and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10 KJV). 

If we recognize that the Lord is our source for all that we need and we honor Him, trust Him, and obey Him then He has promised that we will have sufficiency in all things. This is NOT a prosperity gospel.  Rather it is merely the EXTRA benefit that the Lord pours out upon those who have received His great salvation and who genuinely value that gift by walking in love and obedience with Him. Knowing this, why would we want to do anything less?