Freedom For Today

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Deuteronomy 26 before reading the devotional below.

Have you ever received a gift that was intended for sharing? Perhaps a game that requires more than one player or a tin of popcorn that opens up for the party. When God gives us gifts, he wants us to share it back with him. Why? Because that’s his nature. Imagine if you had a parent that always shared their “shareable” gifts. That kind of person loves to give because they love to experience joy with others. God is like that. And he wants you to be like that too. If we are in the habit of sharing back a portion of everything we have, we imitate our Father’s generosity.

Today’s passage ends with a promise: God will lift you up. He declared that the Jewish people would be his special people. If they simply followed the directions he gave them in this book, they would rise above all other nations. If you have read anything else in the Bible, you know that they failed to follow all of God’s commands. As a result, they went through a lot of trouble and hardship and at times were conquered by other nations.

Let’s take our previous example of generosity: when you give you have less, right? “Less” depends on what is important to you. You will have less popcorn in your tin, but you will have more love and memories in your heart. God’s way gives you less “stuff” and more eternal value. Who wouldn’t want to trade a few pieces of popcorn or a bit of money for something of much greater value? Whenever you receive something, give some back to God. Thank him for all his has done for you and for his people. And give some to others. The generous spirit you get in return will be worth infinitely more.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Deuteronomy 25 before reading the devotional below.

We have recently been experimenting with chores in our family.  Each of my children wants an allowance, and we’ve agreed to give them one if they finish their assigned chore.  My daughter’s chore at the moment is doing the dishes. This is not a complicated task, since we have a dishwasher.  But nevertheless, the dishes need to be loaded into the dishwasher and the clean dishes need to be put away. Tonight, as bedtime came, there were piles of dishes all over the kitchen counter.  My daughter offered a variety of excuses, though she discovered that from my point of view none of them mattered. She is responsible for the dishes. If she wants to get paid, she needs to figure out how to get them done.

Deuteronomy 25 similarly discusses responsibilities.  There is the responsibility of the judge to take responsibility for the punishment he commands (he has to watch it himself, rather than delegating it).  There is the responsibility of the brother to keep his brother’s family line alive (because property was passed through the generations from son to son. If there wasn’t a son, the rest of the family in that generation wouldn’t be financially stable).  Finally, there is the responsibility that the Amalekites (a nearby nation) had to be hospitable to the Israelites. The Amalekites failed in their responsibilities, and the Israelites were expected to remember that and treat them accordingly (this may be the first ever record of God teaching healthy boundaries).

Frequently our anxieties and fears come from confusion about expectations. What is expected of us? What are we responsible for?  The target always seems to be moving or shifting or changing. With God it never changes. God has given us clear, stated responsibilities.  They are in the Bible. We must take the time to understand them and practice them, but we never have to wonder if they’ll change. God values clarity.  He promises consistency. That, above all else, makes him safe.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Deuteronomy 24 before reading the devotional below.

“What is justice?” began one of my favorite college classes.  I was taking an ethics class with a group of pastors in Boston.  The professor did an amazing job in drawing out opinions and fostering a lively discussion.  By the end of the conversation, my mind was spinning with new and challenging thoughts. I began, for example, to think of justice in systemic ways for the first time – how society creates constructs that either promote or obstruct justice.  One thing was missing in my understanding of justice, however: action. Justice had become an idea to talk about or a concept to read and write about. It was an abstraction.

For God justice is never abstract; it is always practical.  As Deuteronomy 24 continues on through a series of seemingly disconnected rules, one major theme continues to emerge.  God cares about justice. He cares about justice for the divorced woman and the newly married man. He cares about justice for those giving loans and for those being kidnapped.  He cares about justice for day laborers and for foreigners. Note that on some level, each of these groups of people are disempowered. Somehow they need extra help to be sure they get the justice they deserve.  They don’t need extra help because they are somehow inherently less competent, however. They need extra help because systems of justice are most likely to fail them. They are the powerless, the disenfranchised, the disinherited.  

For some of us, some situations in our lives have left us as the victims of injustice. You may have been taken advantage of or abused or scammed.  If you have, God is passionate about restoring the balance of justice. He created you. He declares that you deserve justice. For some of us, however, some situations in our lives have left us as the perpetrators of injustice.  God’s law shines a clear light on our actions. We have no wiggle room to excuse or explain our actions. This could be a deeply disturbing realization, and we are fortunate to know the the love of God always offers mercy to the lawbreaker.  So if you are the victim: God promises you justice. If you are the perpetrator, God offers you mercy. In either situation you have a choice: will you trust the God of justice to care for you?

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Deuteronomy 23 before reading the devotional below.

I remember the first time we had a babysitter watch our kids.  We left a note with lots of directions. There was a box of pasta on the kitchen counter that the babysitter could make for dinner.  She could tell the kids one story before they went to bed. The kids needed to make sure their teeth were brushed. The list went on and on.  Even so, as we left to go out on our date, we gave the babysitter a handful of other directions as well. We were explaining little details about what each of our children needed.  She needed to make sure our son actually ate his food. She needed to make sure that our daughter actually changed before bed. Looking back, I think it took us twenty-five minutes to get out of the house that night because we wanted to make sure everything was just right for our kids.

In this chapter of Deuteronomy, God wants to make sure that everything is just right for his people because he loves them.  He wants to make sure that he has covered every possible situation so that his people know what to do and how to do it and when to do it.  There are directions about how to deal with the nations that have intentionally rejected God, for example. There are also directions about charging interest on loans and proper hygiene.  All of these directions come from the same place as my directions to the babysitter. God loves his people. In his incredible wisdom he foresees many complicated situations in which they will need guidance.

It is tempting to assume that God’s rules are arbitrary or random. It is easy to assume that God is being callous or difficult.  In fact he loves you deeply. His rules are the wise guidance of a tender and loving father. That father often understand much that we do not, so it is at times difficult to trust.  However, if we have the courage to trust, we will find that God’s wisdom and love weave together to offer us the greatest possible future we could hope for.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Deuteronomy 22 before reading the devotional below.

“What’s the most important part of your relationship with Jesus?” I asked.  I was leading a Wednesday night Bible study in a garage the church owned. We were stuffed between shelves of food for the church’s food pantry and the band equipment the Worship Team used for practice.  The answers were unsurprising: prayer, reading the Bible and going to church came up a lot. While I agree that these are important, the answers hinted at an unspoken assumption: there’s the “spiritual stuff” and the “non-spiritual stuff.”  Praying is spiritual, changing the oil in your car isn’t. Church is spiritual, stopping at Walmart isn’t.

This chapter of Deuteronomy challenges us to look past this spiritual/non-spiritual perspective that many of us see the world through.  In talking about faithfulness to God, this chapter uses “non-spiritual” words like “sheep” and “owner” and “tree” and “house.” In a society that was based on cattle and farming, God gave some solid, down-to-earth rules about how to choose to love God through everyday living.  The section is capped off with an extended conversation about adultery. God cares a lot about sexuality – He designed it to be a living reminder of his own love for humanity. It, too, is a practical, down-to-earth issue, and God offers wise counsel that reveals both God’s passion for healthy sexuality and his ongoing passion for justice.

Just as the Israelites could encounter God and his leadership in everyday events like farming and herding, you can encounter God through following his leadership in everyday events.  You can encounter God by how you choose to care for your family and your belongings. You can encounter God through your choices as an employee or a neighbor. In life every moment holds choices, and each choice is an opportunity to engage with God’s leadership in your life.  Every choice to follow God’s leadership leads you closer to him. Every admission of failure opens a road back to him. Either way, it is in the context of daily choices that the true experience of God can be found.