Only two chapters in the Bible have more verses than the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy (i.e., Numbers 7 and Psalm 119; 1 Kings 8 has more words but fewer verses). The length of the chapter should tell us something. Moses is about ready to die and he is laying out the “Blessings of Obedience” (in 14 verses) and the “Curses on Disobedience” (in 54 verses). The warnings are real and vivid! He tells the children of Israel what “the Lord will” do to punish them. But why would the Lord punish His own people?
We know that they would be “destroyed because [they] did not obey the voice of the Lord” (28:45). But notice what added detail of their disobedience that Moses inserts into verse 47, “Because [they] did not serve the Lord [their] God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything.” Wow! God is not simply looking for us to obey Him. He is looking for us to obey Him “with joy and gladness of heart”! So, do you? “The abundance of everything” that He does for us provides easy motivation!