The Curse-Breaker

Well, today it's going to be a little bit less pleasant because today we're going to talk about curse, which is the precise inverse of blessing.

So if blessing as a word means kneeling down, curse is standing up with a high hand and a stiff neck, demanding, expecting, insisting, rather than receiving as a gift.

Curse is the withdrawal of prosperity.

Not necessarily because God smites or puts a whammy on us, but because the natural patterns of alignment are being disrupted.

Curse is the withdrawal of favor.

It becomes disfavor.

Now again, as before, not a lack or a loss of love, but it is displeasure with the actions the Adonai witnesses.

And not just displeasure because, oh, you didn't say the magic word, but displeasure because of the hurt and the harm that is being caused to others and to ourselves and ultimately to all of creation.

And because of that disfavor, the gifts of grace cease.

Adonai states that he will not listen or respond to pleas.

He will allow whatever happens to happen.

And one more thing it's important to note, just like we talked about with blessings, curses are also limited.

Just like blessings are limited to life in the land, curses are limited to death in the land.

I think this is important because it's really vital that we understand that biblical curses, at least at this point in the narrative, are never about eternal life or eternal death.

They are about the real-time loss of favor, prosperity, and gifts.

But as always, not a loss of love or goodwill.

Because someone or a nation who is under a curse is still someone.

or a nation that Adonai loves and desires their good for.

As it says in the Eastern Orthodox liturgy, for he is good and loves mankind.