Living Under a Curse

Could you believe there are people who curse themselves on purpose? It seems absurd that anyone would put their life under a curse of any kind. Surely everyone of us wants to be blessed and live a ‘charmed’ life not a cursed one.

Yet there are multitudes of people who spend their whole life under a curse or set of curses they put on themselves. Let me unfold this for you and get you thinking about whether you are living under a curse.

In the First Century days of the early church the Jewish leaders were keen to stop the preaching of a man named Paul. He had been one of them but, through a vision of Jesus, he became one of the foremost preachers of those days. At one point a group of men determined to kill Paul. Not only were they determined to kill him, they put themselves under a curse.

“The Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath not to eat or drink till they had killed Paul. More than forty men made this conspiracy. They told the chief priests and elders, We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul.” Acts 23:12-14

These men put a curse on themselves if they ate or drank before they killed Paul. Sadly for them, Paul found out about the plot and lived for many years. That means the men either starved to death or ate and accepted the curse they invoked on themselves.

In our modern day there are secret societies and lodges which require members to put themselves and their families under terrible curses if the members ever disclose the secrets. If someone in your family is a member of such a lodge they will most likely not tell you that they have put you under a curse. You can find books about these societies, where members disclose some of the secrets and curses.

So, if we are correctly informed, there may be millions of people in western society who are either directly or indirectly under a curse.

On a much broader scale, we are all living under the curse of death, because of Adam’s sin. Even before we ever commit a sin we are destined to die, not for what we have done, but because of the family curse passed to us from Adam.

“By the trespass of one man death reigned through that one man” Romans 5:17 

“One trespass brought condemnation for all men” Romans 5:18

“For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” 1Corinthians 15:21,22

We all live under the curse of death, but those who put their faith in Jesus Christ have the antidote to death, ‘resurrection life’ that will be given to us to live with God in eternity.

“It is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:40

“No one can come to me unless the Father, who sent Me, draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.” John 6:44

On yet another level, when people choose to live without loving and worshipping God, they put themselves under a curse. God warns that He lets us choose whether we live under blessing or curse.

“I set before you a blessing and a curse: a blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord” Deuteronomy 11:26-28

“I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose life, so you and your descendants may live” Deuteronomy 30:19

Similarly, when people won’t trust God, by rely on their own capacities and own understanding, rather than believing the Word of God, they are cursed. They are cursed for trusting in human capacity, instead of God.

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man, who makes humanity his strength and turns his heart from the Lord. He will be like a tumbleweed in the desert; he will not see when prosperity comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a deserted salt land.” Jeremiah 17:5,6

We see a curse like this worked out in the Children of Israel during their forty years in the wilderness. They did not trust God when they should have entered the Promised Land, so they were turned back into the desert where their lives were wasted in aimless wandering.

“They kept on sinning. Despite God’s wonderful works, they did not believe. Therefore God consumed their days in vanity, and their years in trouble.” Psalm 78:32,33

“They craved intensely in the wilderness and tested God in the desert. And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.” Psalm 106:14,15

The idea of a life consumed in vanity, eaten up on useless and fruitless things, sounds like the shock many western people feel at what we call ‘mid-life crisis’. Maybe they are right when they realise they have achieved nothing, but most likely they don’t realise the cause.
When people refuse to submit their life to God and they trust in human resources, human reasoning and their own plans, and when they demand what they want instead of what God has for them, their lives get eaten up, day after day and year after year, with little to show for it. The things they do and the benefits they chase end up leaving them empty on the inside (a lean soul), unsatisfied and wasted.

The things that make life worthwhile are the things God directs us to, including a life of faith in Christ and worship of God, and of loving God and loving others. A life where we chase what we want how we like it and when we want it, leads to emptiness and eats our life with nothing to show for it. That’s because God’s purposes are not about us indulging ourselves.

Wonderfully, when we stop trying to save our life and get what we want, and when we live for God’s Kingdom, we find ourselves coming to life and we find that things which are enjoyable and satisfying are attracted to our life.

“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” Luke 9:24

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33

You may be living right now under the curse of futility (vanity), where you are wasting your life. If so, it’s because you are relying on yourself and human wisdom and chasing things you have decided are important, not the things God knows are truly important and rewarding for you. It’s time to stop chasing pretty rainbows you’ll never find. It’s time to stop pretending you can make yourself happy, of that gaining this or that will satisfy you. It’s time to stop protecting your reputation before God and to admit you are hopeless and desperately need Him. It’s time to let God direct your steps and for you to put your faith in Him, trusting that what He has for you is actually wonderful and satisfying.

It’s time to step into the blessings of God which He already has packaged and waiting for you, as you stop Living Under a Curse.