Thursday, March 17, 2016

Thurs.’s Devo - God’s Love, Justice, and Judgment

Read: Deut. 21:10- 25
In today’s reading we see the kindness, justice and judgment of God. He has sympathy for the captured woman and the son of the unloved mother but judgment for the rebellious son. All of God’s judgments were to “purge the evil from among them” and put the fear of God in them.
Today we don't stone our rebellious teenagers even though we might want to. We bring them before the priest (God) in prayer and repeat his Word (the stones) back to God. We proclaim what we want our children to become. These are kids that were raised to fear God so we have put the Word in them. We intercede for the prodigal sons.
We see God’s kindness for the neighbor’s donkey and the commandment he gives to those who witness a wrong. We are not to look the other way when we see someone who needs help, but we are to go and help our neighbor get his donkey back on his feet. We are to not ignore our responsibilities.
God always requires at least two witnesses for a wrong commited so that no one will be judged wrongly. God loves women and has some laws just to protect her. He makes the man who humbles a woman marry her and never be able to divorce her. I bet that would help men and women think twice before they slept with just any one.
God requires his people to be holy. He had rules for where they could go to the bathroom which had to be hidden and outside the camp. His reason was that He moves around in their camp to protect them and defeat their enemies. That is a good reason to want to live a holy life.
One last thing I want to bring up was that God told them to always remember where they came from. They were once slaves. We are to always remember that we were once sinners but now we are free.
Lord, thank you for your righteous justice and judgments. Thank you for moving in our lives to protect us and defeat our enemies. May we never forget the cross and what You have done for us.

No comments: