I wish I'd known

"I wish I'd known that."  I saw those three aces in my "foot" and regretted putting a wild card on my set of aces to "dirty them".  We play a game called Hand and Foot often.  The object is to have a set of seven matching cards.  The rules allow the use of wild cards to make the set but the point count is less.  As much as we'd like to think of Hand and Foot as a game of skill, it really is a game of chance.

I knew there was a chance that when I saw the cards in my second hand, my foot, there would be aces and I would have lost my chance at a pure set of seven aces.  I had decided to take the chance, play the odds and face the consequences.

When I read Deuteronomy 28:15 through 29:1, I thought God made the consequences of the Israelites' disobedience, breaking the covenant with Him, abundantly clear!  All the blessings listed in the first verses of chapter 28 turn into curses.  Then God gets specific.  There will be curses, confusion and rebuke in everything they put their hands.  There will be plagues and diseases that are well described.  There will be no rain.  They will be soundly defeated by their enemies.  They will be unsuccessful in everything.  They will be desperate for food.  They will be oppressed by other nations.  It will be Egypt again, only much worse.

My hindsight judgment kicked in and I thought how fickle were the Israelites.  God made it very plain, what to do and what not  to do and they consistently chose disobedience.  They gambled thinking they knew better than God or let their desire and lust lead them.  He even told them in these verses they would set up a king for themselves, not following God's plan and they missed that He knows their hearts and their future following  their own plans.  God knows our frailties and provides a way of life to protect  us from ourselves.

He warned them about making poor choices and living the "if only" life.  These verses describe it as life so difficult and challenging that longing for morning when it's evening or evening when it's morning is the foremost.  I know too many who live the "if only" way of life, always lusting for what seems better than the present.  Too often the present is the result of poor choices.

Today I also  ponder that more of us are just like a character in a  reality TV show I often watch.  He touts the persona of The Gambler.  He buys abandoned storage lockers in the hope that precious "treasures" will be found to make his fortune.  He knows the consequences and takes the chance.

There is more gambler in us than we think.  For some reason, we think we can live our lives based on our own choices and desires even when God has made it clear, plain and frankly easy for us (follow His ways wholeheartedly).  He tells us His way is safe and rewarding.  He tells us the consequences.  He listed the blessings in 14 verses and the consequences in nearly 50 verses.  The Israelites, nor I, can really say "I'd wished I'd known."

I want to remember to live my life safely by carefully following God.  I can't say that God hasn't shown me the consequence of living life following my own choices.  Why risk when God has a great life planned for me?  It's up to me to enjoy it.