Sun.’s Devo - Restore

Read: Deuteronomy 21:1-22:30; Luke 9:51-10:12; Psalm 74:1-23
It doesn’t take long reading today’s scripture to see how far we have strayed from them. God’s law are God’s wisdom and his heart. He wanted Israel to be set apart and holy. He made us to be sexual people but he gave us definite guidelines and boundaries for our good.
If a warrior sees a woman who is a virgin in the country they are attacking, he can take her home. He is to trim her nails and shave her head and give her new clothes. She is to live with him and his parents for a month. During this month, she will learn the lifestyle of the Israelite that she is expected to live. Her true colors should emerge during this time. If he still wants to marry her, then he can. If after they are married for a while, he is not pleased with her, he can set her free. This is a picture of someone who falls for an unsaved person. This is the only one, that he is told he can divorce her. In the other situations, God tells him he must stay married for life.
The next scenerio (21:15-17) of the two wives is exactly what happened with Jacob and Rachael and Leah. Jacob loved Rachael more. He was tricked into marrying Leah and making her son the firstborn. When Rachael finally had Joseph, Jacob treated him with more favor than all his other sons. In his eyes, he was the first born. He had a robe made for him to show his affection toward Joseph. Needless to say, this did not go over well with his brothers, but God had the last word. Joseph did go to rule over all of them. If we don’t get in the way, God will restore things as they should have been.
A woman was not to wear men’s clothing or vice versa because God detests this! That wouldn’t fly today.
I want to talk about one other law. If a person was to see a stray ox or sheep, he was not to ignore it. He was to take it home and keep it till he found the owner or help it get to its feet if it has fallen. What a picture of what we are to do when we see someone who has strayed from their walk with God. We are not to ignore it. We are either to take this person on as we would want someone to do to our son or daughter or we are to help that person get back on their feet. We are not to just ignore them. This is a conformation to me about what we are doing. We have brought our youngest son and family back to live with us to help them get on their feet. It is involving mentoring, schooling, and much of our finances… but we can’t ignore them. We want to be able to turn them back over to the Lord restored.
As Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem to die, he encountered three men who wanted to follow him. Jesus answered them according to their heart. They wanted to follow Jesus with their words but when it came down to acting on it, they weaseled out. Jesus appointed 72 others and sent them out. He explained exactly how it was going to be for the ones who “followed him”. They would be lambs among wolves. It would be a total walk of faith.
God is not into numbers but into the few that are totally sold out. He can work with them.
Lord, help us to walk in your shoes in faith and courage. Help us to be totally sold out.