Head Or Tail

Deuteronomy 28:13
“And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.”

This verse makes me think of a high school performance where two students are selected to play the horse. One lucky young man gets to be the head, while the other is stuck behind him as the tail.

Moses used this visual to remind Israel of the importance of obedience to the Word of God. He explained that if the people chose to live in accordance with the teachings of Scripture, they would find that their life would be richly blessed. At the same time, if they chose to ignore the Word, and do life their own way, they would miss out on that blessing, and face difficulties God never intended for them to endure.

Every day we face challenges that force us to either look to Scripture for direction or choose to do what we think is right. When we apply the principles of the Word of God, they will always bring about blessing, even if it seems impossible. Jesus told an interesting parable regarding the value and power of the Word of God. He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how” (Mark 4:26-27). In other words, the Word of God will always do what it is designed to do, even if we don’t understand how. When a marriage is failing and a couple begins to look to Scripture and apply its truths to heir relationship, God will do the miraculous. When an individual is struggling to walk with the Lord and begins to invest the Word into his daily life, God will do a miracle. We do not need to understand how the Word works, we just need to be faithful to do it; and we will find ourselves being the head, instead of the tail.

Pastor Jim