Many times, people will speak prophetically, quoting Moses, telling them they will become the head and not the tail. They forget  to quote the full verse where that phrase is used,  “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” (Deuteronomy 28:13). 

Listening to God and obeying His commands is what is required to make us the head, not the tail. We have already been redeemed by Christ, but what we believe and how we choose to live our lives will determine whether we live a cursed life or a life of blessing. 

Having a listening ear to the voice of God and a resulting obedience to His word are what release God’s blessings. Scripture is not some spiritual Pez dispenser. It requires context to understand what it means.

The opposite of God’s blessings are the consequences we bring upon ourselves when we stop listening to God and obeying His word. In the New Covenant, our choices will determine what kind of life we will live and experience.

This is the reverse of what will happen if we make choices that self-curse our lives: “The foreigners living among you will become stronger and stronger, while you become weaker and weaker. They will lend money to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail!” (vs. 43-44).

A listening ear to the voice of God and our obedience to His word are required to live a blessed life, no matter what covenant a person lives in. Only then will we become the head, not the tail, in all issues of this life. Living that kind of life will always give us hope because our hope has been placed in God and His word, and they will never fail us.