No Curse without a cause

 In Proverbs 26:2 the writer of Proverbs makes a very important statement. He says:

“Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight.”

In other words, if there’s a curse there’s always a cause. There’s something that caused it. My experience is in helping people that very often it’s helpful and sometimes necessary to discover the cause before you can deal with the curse. I’m going to take now some time to deal with Biblical causes of curses.

Let’s go to Deuteronomy 28 for what I would call the primary causes both of blessings and curses. And fortunately they’re very simple. The first two verses of Deuteronomy 28 says this:

“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come upon you, and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God.”

That’s a translation which I think is followed by most modern translations, but the Old King James used to say “if you will listen diligently to the voice of the Lord your God.” And in Hebrew, that phrase is formed by repeating the word listen. If you will listen listening—that’s emphatic—to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what He says. So very, very simply the primary cause of all blessings is listening to God’s voice and doing what He says.

Now the primary cause of all curses is exactly the opposite. In verse 15 of the same chapter:

“But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes, which I command you today; that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.”

So what’s the cause of curses? Not listening to God’s voice, not doing what He says. So there basically you have the two root causes. The cause of blessing: listening to God’s voice, doing what He says. The cause of curses: not listening to God’s voice, not doing what He says. I want to tell you right now that if you are released from a curse, in order to remain in the blessing you will have to fulfill this condition: you’ll have to listen to God’s voice and do what He says. If you go back to not listening and not doing, you’re liable to come under a curse again.