God bless you and greetings in the name of Jesus Christ whose freewill choice to do God’s will instead of hs own has made all the difference in the world (Luke 22:42).
In addition to the Old Testament believers’ limited knowledge of the adversary contributing to the frequent use of this idiom, the second major factor was the relationship between God’s law and man’s freedom of will. Man’s freedom of will is a sacred trust from God that He never oversteps. God has allowed men to determine their own lives by controlling their thinking to either believe His Word and accept His will or to not believe and reject it.
Deuteronomy 11:26-28:
Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; 27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day: 28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.
God gave us His Word to protect us from our adversary. When we respect Him and do His commandments, He can take care of us.
Deuteronomy 6:24:
And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear [reverence] the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.
When God established free will, there had to be a choice. There had to have been an option other than the perfect beauty and order that God created and initiated. God’s creation was perfect until the day when iniquity was found in Lucifer (Ezekiel 28:12-15). God did not make Lucifer evil. Rather, God allowed him the freedom of will to love and serve Him. With this freedom came the alternative of evil, which was first manifested in Lucifer. God gave this same freedom of will to mankind.
God set up the universe on the basis of perfect justice. After the fall of man, when Adam transferred his dominion to the adversary, God had to permit the adversary to work. When people refuse to do God’s Word and decide to turn away from Him, God can no longer help and protect them because they, by their freewill choice, step outside of the protection of God. People bring evil upon themselves when they turn from God’s Word.
Jeremiah 2:19:
Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear [respect] is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts
Isaiah 3:8-11:
For Jerusalem is mined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory. 9 The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. 10 Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him. for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. 11 Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him. for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
Throughout the Word, God makes His will very clear: He does not even want the wicked to die. He wants the wicked to change their evil ways and believe His Word.
Ezekiel 33:11:
Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
If the wicked turned from their evil ways, God could protect them and preserve their lives.
God’s will is never the variable in life’s situations. The variable is man’s response to God’s Word. Will he believe and appropriate the blessings or reject the Word and receive the consequences?
Isaiah 59:1-2:
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
God has given mankind the right to choose, and He will not violate that right.
Deuteronomy 30:15-20:
See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; 16 In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. 17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shall be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; 18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. 19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
The Scripture cannot be broken. Therefore, when people break God’s laws, they, in essence, break themselves on the law of God. God gave man His Word. When men believe and act on it, they are blessed and protected. When men rebel and refuse to listen to God’s Word, God can no longer protect them. God recognizes the sanctity of freewill choice. He will never violate man’s free will to choose. When man chooses to break the law of God, he receives the consequences of his disobedience.
Tomorrow we will look at the consequences of breaking spiritual laws.