Blessings, cathartic curses and seeing the truth

Blessings and curses are all around us. Most of them happen in our minds. We curse our enemies in our minds, at times asking God to intervene and bring misfortune to our enemies or even emasculate them and erase their identity from existence. We bless the ones we like or love, asking God to bring them good fortune, be it here or in the next world. We have an impressive assortment of methods to curse and bless others, and sometimes – ourselves. Rituals, chants, dances, prophecies, prayers, psalms, ancient artifacts, manuscripts, voodoo dolls, demeaning or uplifting gestures, the evil eye, the list is endless.

Now, skeptics are going to tell you that, for example, a curse is a matter of auto-suggestion. When someone says they curse you, somewhere deep down, you might start to believe it, thereby bringing about bad luck which is only going to reinfornce you belief in being cursed, bringing about a catch-22 or a vicious circle scenario. A self-fulfilling prophecy, if you will.

Same with a blessing. How can you tell who’s actually blessed and who wants to believe he or she’s been blessed? For example, there are people who are convinced they are blessed by the holy spirit and have the gift of tongues. But is it just their self-aggrandizement at work, a notion that they are desperate to believe and their social circle reinforces that belief, or have they really been blessed by the holy spirit, which – in effect – means having been blessed by God? Exactly, it gets complicated.

If a nation can be chosen by God, then it stands to reason that another nation can be cursed by God, including its individual citizens, although collective responsibility is a controversial topic and for all sorts of good reasons.

Why would the nation be cursed by God? Stands to reason that by acting against the chosen nation by God – Israel –  God punishes the other nation or nations and curses them. Now, the effects of the curse don’t need to be immediate, they can extend over hundreds of years, if not more, or only be visible in the afterlife. God isn’t a genie who responds to someone snapping fingers and it’s done and if there’s no immediate effect, then it’s all nonsense. God doesn’t appear to work that way. The Creator is patient and, to use the relevant cliche, works in mysterious ways.

What does it mean to be chosen by God and how does an individual or a nation know that it’s been chosen by God? Well, a chosen group or a nation has that privilege of seeing their enemies emasculated and their identities erased, eventually, but it can take a long time, extending even into the afterlife, as there will obviously be staunch resistance on the part of Israel’s enemies to such a cursed and demeaning fate.

That moment can be cathartic for the chosen nation. When the cursed nation or nations can finally hear the truth about themselves without the fear they are going to retaliate as they are cursed by God and no longer pose a serious threat, with their history, culture and language erased or but a footnote in history, and their resources taken over. It’s a terrible fate, indeed, cruel and unusual, but if God decides to curse an individual or a nation, God, being perfect, has perfectly valid reasons to do so, just as God has perfectly valid reasons to bless. God sees every individual’s and nation’s true face, no silver tongue or virtue-signaling is going to fool God. He sees all agendas with crystal clarity and acts accordingly, delivering divine judgments about people and nations. When God blesses, curses or chooses a particular nation, it’s a perfect decision. The Creator’s decision-making process is flawless. We can’t even hope to grasp that perfect process, no matter how smart we are.

We must accept God’s will in regards to these matters and act accordingly. How are we to know what’s God’s will and what’s not?

The Lord always finds a way to show us what’s what and who’s who at some point. He will point us in the direction He wants us to go in based on the sum total of all our thoughts, intentions, actions, and prospects – be it a glorious fate, a demeaning fate, or yet another unremarkable fate no one is going to remember anything about. We’re being guided and prepared, even conditioned, for whatever is in store for us.

For example, the fact I’m writing this blog is a result of a series of apparent coincidences. Indeed, the topic of Israel and Judaism has been more prevalent in some parts of my life lately. It’s as if the universe is aligning itself – and winking at me through people and situations. There’s no better example of this than the Chief Rabbi of Poland having a meeting at the Cultural Center on the outer edges of Warsaw right in my neighborhood. It was several months ago, but still. Intriguing.

I still have a Hebrew calendar from that event. I’m looking at it right now. Makes me wonder what kind of ”coincidence” is in store for me next. God sure has a strange sense of humor.