Your life shall hang in doubt before you; day and night you shall be worried… – Deuteronomy 28:66, Amplified Bible

Sometimes our focus on the love of Christ blinds us to the fact that God is holy and that He will punish sin. Not only will He punish the sin of the lost; He will punish the sin of His children as well.

In Deuteronomy chapter 28, Moses shows the Israelites what God has shown him: national obedience to God will produce national blessings from God, and national disobedience to God will produce national cursing from God. But, God does not limit His promise to punish sin in chapter 28 to just national disobedience. He brings it down to the individual level as well. As God tells us through Moses in Deuteronomy 29:18-20 (Amplified Bible):

Beware lest there should be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose [mind and] heart turns away this day from the Lord our God…The Lord will not pardon him…and all the curses that are written in this book shall settle on him.

Of all the curses listed in Deuteronomy 28, perhaps none is more devastating than those found in verses 65-67 (Amplified Bible):

…you shall find no ease and there shall be no rest for the sole of your foot; but the Lord will give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes [from disappointment of hope], fainting of mind, and languishing of spirit. Your life shall hang in doubt before you; day and night you shall be worried, and have no assurance of your life…because of the anxiety and dread of your [minds and] hearts…

With God at our side, we can face the direst of circumstances with confidence and peace. When God abandons us to a trembling heart, faint mind, and languishing spirit, even the mildest of negative circumstances will produce anxiety, fear, and doubt. The only difference between these two possibilities is us. When we choose to follow God, He will be with us in the midst of every storm. When we choose to follow our favorite idols, God will send us into the realm of doubt and worry until we come to our senses.

If doubt and worry is the norm in your life, examine yourself for unconfessed idol worship. What do you find more attractive than God? Your work? Your wealth? Your influence? Your entertainment? Your music? Your own abilities to deal with problems? Cast them all aside. Until you do, and until you make the God of Heaven the object of your worship, you can plan on being miserable.