"If you listen to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom."
There are many promises in the Bible. But Deut. 28:13 quoted above stands out. When a student is scoring less than 'A' in all his subjects, he is living below the mark. When a person's career is not prospering, that person is living below the mark. When a couple is barren, that couple is living below the mark. When parents and children do not see eye-to-eye, that family is living below the mark. When a worker at 60 years retires unhappily because his loans outweighs his final entitlements, that person has lived below the mark. When a Pastor divorces his wife, he has lived below the mark. When the head of the family is handicapped financially, morally and intellectually to perform his expected roles in the family he's living below the mark.
When a businessman has to bribe before he gets a contract and bribe his way to get his invoice paid, that person is living below God's standard. In all situations, the truth is that we are responsible for all the misfortunes that befall us!
How then does one hit the mark? Wisdom! We must apply wisdom in everything we do by realistically questioning our actions. Let's take a student who is not doing well, he has to question how well he applies himself to his studies. A man who retires at 60 whose entitlements were swallowed by loans has committed the serious error of mortgaging his future in his hey days. A marriage that fails may have been founded upon a "incompatibility" or carelessness even where the couples are compatible. Research has shown that many of the loans that led people to problems are taken for wasteful purposes such as socials or purchase of wasteful assets!
If those involved had questioned the essence of such loans, perhaps they would have succeeded in living below their means.
It therefore behoves on us that we should not take God's promises for granted. If we foolishly handle them, they will not manifest the good intentions of God for us.
