Deuteronomy 34: A Great Leader Dies

"Moses was 120 years old when he died; his eyes were not weak, and his vitality had not left him."

Deuteronomy 34:7

The chapter goes on to state that no other prophet like Moses has ever arisen.  Moses spoke to God, face-to-face.  Moses lived one hundred twenty years without losing vitality.  Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, through the wilderness, and all the way to the Promised Land.  However, he could have done none of this without seeing God face-to-face.

The greatest ruler Israel ever knew was only able to lead at all because God moved him.  When he perished, he appointed another Godly man to take his place because he knew that God was the strength of Israel.  Without God, and without a leader who would uphold God's Word, the nation would fail completely.

Question of the Day:

When we choose our nation's leaders, every candidate claims to be a man of faith and values.  How do we tell which ones are lying, which ones think they're honest but just don't know their own sin, and which ones are truly men of character?  Only by strict scrutiny regarding the fruits they've produced.

Prayer of the Day:

Rise up for the U.S. a strong presidential candidate who truly follows Your guidance.  Lead each state to elect legislators who fit that same build.  Guide Your people in this great nation to bring Your blessings upon us by electing leaders who fear the Lord and shun evil.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 33: True Happiness

"How happy you are, Israel!  Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord?  He is the shield that protects you, the sword you boast in.  Your enemies will cringe before you, and you will tread on their backs."

Deuteronomy 33:29

What is happiness?  Is it a feeling of security?  Is it a feeling of vengeance?  Is it power over others?  Those are the things this verse seems to suggest...  However, I think that a closer look at the rest of Moses's blessing in this chapter would reveal a much different understanding.

Moses blesses each of the twelve tribes, and the only thing I found in common between all twelve blessings is that they're all different.  And that makes perfect sense!  We all have different likes and dislikes.  We all have different opinions, different styles, different interests, different understandings of what it means to be happy.

So how can anyone label what true happiness is?  Easily - it's found in freedom.  One who is free is able to find happiness wherever he/she sees fit.  All in all, Moses is blessing Israel in the same way Jesus blesses His disciples - showing God's mercy and offering freedom to pursue Him in one's own way.

Question of the Day:

Have you let Jesus free you from sin?  Have you let Him finish the fight between good and evil in your soul?  Have you enjoyed the peace and freedom - the happiness - that He offers?

Prayer of the Day:

The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack.  You let me relax and recuperate, renewing me for my travels on the path of righteousness.  Even when I have problems, I don't have to worry because You are with me, comforting me.  You provide all that I need and more, and You keep a special place for me in Your Kingdom. You love me the way I am, and You encourage me to be the best me I can be.  You give me wisdom to avoid the worldly desires which ensnare others, and You protect me when the world comes crashing down.  I would have no happiness without You.  Thank You.  Amen!

Deuteronomy 32: Moses Sings

If you're not familiar with the Song of Moses, I would recommend that you stop reading this post and get your bible out.  Read Deuteronomy 32:1-43.  I know it's long, but it's worth reading.  Instead of quoting a single verse today, I'll just post this link to biblegateway.com:

Deuteronomy 32:1-43

I truly can't believe I've never read this before.  After studying the rest of Deuteronomy, this chapter truly pulls at the strings of my heart.  Here, we witness the passion of Moses as he cries out to his people, pleading for them to continue on the right path after he's gone.  We witness the love of the Lord in all its fury, its vengeance, its justice, its mercy, its compassion, and its peace.  This song truly tells the tale of all our lives...

We begin in the peace of the Lord, stabilized by the perfect and faithful Rock.  We act corruptly and repay His good with our own evil ways.  Even though He set aside flawless plans for us, we reject Him and find ourselves in a barren place.  He picks us up and carries us through the wilderness of life, bringing us to rest in abundance.  We grow fat on the abundance and provoke His jealousy while He is living with us.  He hides His face from us and burns against us, allowing us to tear our own lives apart until we have nothing left and come crawling back to Him.  Then, He has compassion on us and vindicates us, perfecting us and overcoming His adversaries.

Question of the Day:

Have you ever reached the point in your relationship with the Lord where He left you to your own devices, waiting for you to run out of your own strength so that you'd have nowhere else to turn but Him?

Prayer of the Day:

Thank You for giving me Your strength, for sustaining my life with great abundance and helping me understand the dangers of over-indulgence and over-confidence in my own strength.  Thank You for showing me today how, with Your intervention, I can overcome temptations and avoid the problems that I'm not ready for.  Thank You for taking me back in my desperation, and for protecting me and purifying me once more.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 31: The Mark of a Godly Man

"Moses then summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, 'Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land the Lord swore to give to their fathers.  You will enable them to take possession of it.'"

Deuteronomy 31:7

After giving the book of the Law to the Levites to carry beside the Ark of the Covenant, Moses is ready to give up his command to Joshua, son of Nun.  His time has come, and he knows that the Lord will not allow him to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land.  His life is literally only a few more chapters in length.

Moses has literally spent the ending-streak of his life teaching his people to follow the Lord, and trying to impart his wisdom to the Israelites.  He shows the same kind of behavior we see from any zealous person who has spent significant time with the Lord - the desire to share His ways with everyone, especially the people closest to him.  We see the same quality in many modern-era religious leaders: ministers at our churches, Christian musicians, bible study groups, etc.

Question of the Day:

Do you see this quality in yourself?  Have you spent so much time with the Lord that you can't stop yourself form sharing His teachings with the people around you?

Prayer of the Day:

Lord, I want to have a relationship with You as intimate and devoted as the one Moses had with you, or even more, if You will let me.  I want to know You and love You so much that You are included in everything I say and do.  I want my every action to shine Your light into the world around me.  I want my every word to share Your love, peace, and compassion.  I want my every thought to be pure and holy so that no impurities have any chance of flowing out of my heart.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 30: Restoration for the Repentant

"When all these things happen to you - the blessings and curses I have set before you - and you come to your senses... and you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and all your soul by doing everything that I am giving you today, then He will restore your fortunes, have compassion on you, and gather you again..."

Deuteronomy 30:1a,2,3a

Praise the Lord for answering yesterday's prayer so quickly!  This chapter reminds us that even the God of the Old Testament accepted a repentant heart.  I was also touched by a later verse:

"This command that I give you today is certainly not too difficult or beyond your reach."

Deuteronomy 30:11

God Created us with all the necessary tools for following His commands.  He gave us intelligence to understand what His commands are, and what the consequences are for failing to uphold them.  He gave us the wisdom to avoid being led astray by others who do not follow the Way.  He gave us freedom so that we will be able to choose to follow Him without being forced as by a tyrant.  God is the democratically elected leader of my soul; he got two out of three votes (my own heart and the Spirit within me voted against the fleshly desire).

Question of the Day:

Have you a repentant heart?  Have you "come to your senses" and returned to the Lord?  Have you found His acceptance?  Has He begun to restore your fortunes and have compassion on you?

Prayer of the Day:

Thank You for Your compassion and love for Your undeserving people.  Teach us Your ways more each day, and help us to learn from each other's consequences instead of having to learn each lesson the hard way.  Give us the strength of will to follow Your commands even when it's unpopular with those around us.  Help Your people to stand out because of our convictions; show the world (through us) that Your Way is the only Way to have true life and abundance.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 29: Not By My Own Heart

"When someone hears the words of this oath, he may bless himself in his mind, thinking, 'I will have peace even though I follow my own stubborn heart.'  ... The Lord will not be willing to forgive him.  Instead, his anger and jealousy will burn against that person and every curse written in this scroll will descend upon him.  The Lord will blot out his name under heaven..."

Deuteronomy 29:19a,20

Question of the Day:

Aren't we all guilty of this sentiment on multiple occasions?  I know I am...  How do we ask forgiveness for something God has specifically said He will not forgive?

Prayer of the Day:

I repent!  I know that my own flesh-driven heart is vile to You, and I cast it aside for Yours!  Take me back into Your arms, forgive me, and prevent me from ever going back to my evil ways.  Amen!

Deuteronomy 28: Blessings and Curses

"All these blessings will come and overtake you, because you obey the Lord your God... But if you do not obey the Lord your God by carefully following all His commands and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overtake you."

Deuteronomy 28:2,15

If New Year's Eve is an omen of the year to come, my 2012 is going to be full of hard work and abundant rewards.  If New Year's Day is an omen of the year to come, my 2012 is going to be full of miserable illness and restlessness.  Thankfully, God doesn't work like that.  God gives us a choice.  God lets us decide whether our lives will be blessed or cursed.

Question of the Day:

Which do you choose?  Will you follow His commands and live a blessed life?  Or will you ignore His statutes and curse yourself?

Prayer of the Day:

Lord, heal my illness so that I can get back on my feet and work for you once more.  Help me to follow Your commands today.  Teach me to stay on the narrow path, and not stray.  Show me the way of Your heart so that I may live a blessed life with You.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 27: The True Amen

"'Cursed is anyone who does not put the words of this law into practice.' And all the people will say, 'Amen!'"

Deuteronomy 27:26

In this chapter, Moses details quite a long list of curses that the Levites are supposed to announce after the taking of the Promised Land.  After the Levites state each curse, all the people are to say, "Amen!"  The grand finale of these curses is the one quoted above.

To the Israelites, a blessing or curse was not just a spoken wish or desire.  It was a promise of things to come.  The amen spoken after each curse in this passage literally means, "So be it."  The people of Israel didn't use the word as an utterance at the end of a prayer the way we do - rather, they used it to emphasize not just agreement with what has been said, but faith that it will happen.

The amen was almost exclusively used after blessings or curses, not as closure, but as a promise that it will come true, if not by their own hand, then by the hand of God.  It was a verbal signature to a spoken covenant, much like a handshake was treated in the Good-Old-Days.

Question of the Day:

When you say, "Amen," do you really know what you're saying?  Are you willing to let it be a signature on the covenant of your prayer, blessing, or curse?

Prayer of the Day:

Lord, help me to serve You in all that I do.  Help me to shed my sinful nature and become a mirror of Your Spirit.  I am unable to make this leap on my own, and I need You to intervene on my behalf.  Take away the thorn in my flesh and make me holy in Your sight.  I bow before Your glory and commit myself to Your ways, now and for all eternity.  I promise to keep Your commandments and bring praise to Your name.  I accept Your forgiveness of all my sins, and I will do what I can to repay You.  I give you my life - I am Yours to command.  Amen!

Deuteronomy 26: Affirmation of Faith

"Today you have affirmed that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in His ways, keep His statutes, commands, and ordinances, and obey Him."

Deuteronomy 26:17

There is a direct correlation between this passage and the prayer we make when we become Christians.  Not everyone says the same words, but the sentiment is the same - we give ourselves to Him so that He may fill us with His Spirit.

Always before, I had assumed that this was a purely Christian idea.  I knew that Abraham was God's chosen man, and that his offspring (the Jews) became God's chosen people.  To me, this always seemed like a one-sided choice - that God did the choosing.  This passage, however, tells us that the people of Israel chose to follow the Lord, and that this is the reason why He set them apart as a holy nation and blessed their land above all others, as He had promised to their fathers.

Question of the Day:

As Christians, what has God promised us?  What birthright do we have as born-again believers?

Prayer of the Day:

Lord, today I reaffirm my faith in You - that I will walk in Your ways and obey Your commandments.  Lord, be my Salvation - as You have promised to take my sin away from me.  Lord, prune the vine of my life - as You have promised to remove all but the Spiritual fruits from my heart.  Lord, bless my every endeavor - as You have promised to give me abundant life.  Lord, resurrect me from the grave - as You have promised to give me eternal life.  Lord, accept me at the gates of Heaven - as You have promised to bring me into Your holy Kingdom.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 25: Sound Money

"You must not have two different weights in your bag, one heavy and one light."

Deuteronomy 25:13

The culture of Israel had no idea what paper money was.  Most of their trade was in the form of bartering, but when they did use currency it was in the form of silver shekels.  Where did these coins get their name?  A shekel was a unit for measuring weight (akin to ounces and pounds), and the coin was a piece of silver which weighed one shekel.  This is why having honest weights was important.

The most common use for dishonest weights was for a man to shave off a portion of his silver coins, use these silver shavings to make more coins of equivalent weight, and use the dishonest weights to make others think these smaller coins weighed the same (and therefore were worth the same amount) as every other coin.

Essentially, using different weights is stealing.  Deceiving someone into making an unfair trade, whether for silver currency or as a good-for-good barter, is the same as making a fair trade and then stealing the difference - or worse, since now the guilty party has added lying to his list of crimes.  A man who used different weights was guilty of breaking both the 8th (do not steal) and 9th (do not lie) Commandments, and probably the 10th (do not covet what's not yours) as well.

Question of the Day:

Have you ever tried to deceive someone into thinking they were making a fair trade, when in actuality you were stacking the odds in your own favor?  Can you think of any modern equivalents to using dishonest weights?

Prayer of the Day:

Lord, prevent my heart from coveting what does not belong to me, the sin which leads to so many others.  Help me to keep all my trades, bargains, sales, and purchases honest and fair, no matter who I am trading with.  Give me wisdom to know when others are trying to deceive me as well.  In this time of economic stress for our whole nation and world, help Your people teach those around us about the value and importance of sound money, so that we may work our way out of the trouble we put ourselves in.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 24: Leave Some for the Poor

"When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you must not glean what is left.  What remains will be for the foreign resident, the fatherless, and the widow."

Deuteronomy 24:21

This command is given three times - with regards to grains, olives, and grapes.  I'd take that to mean that God meant it for all crops, and just used those as specific examples because they were the most commonly grown foods in the land at that time.  But what is God asking them to do here?

Anybody who's familiar with farming at all knows that a whole field of crops doesn't ripen at exactly the same time.  Depending on the crop and the method of collecting it, a frugal farmer would reap what is ripe from his harvest and then go back out again a little time later to collect the rest after it had ripened.  God's command here is that farmers do not do that.

Why?  Because there are some in the land who do not own land, who are too poor to grow their own crops or even buy crops from others.  God's command is that His people allow the needy to eat what's leftover in the fields.

Question of the Day:

For farmers - do you set aside some of your food for the poor?  For non-farmers - do you have some other way of helping to feed the poor?

Prayer of the Day:

Lord, show me how I can help feed the needy within my community.  Give me discernment between true needs and freeloaders.  Help me to give the needy a chance to get back on their feet, and help me set a positive example for freeloaders to see why making one's own living is better than endlessly relying on others.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 23: You Have My Word

"If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to keep it, because He will require it of you, and it will be counted against you as a sin."

Deuteronomy 23:21

This chapter covers quite a few topics, and I had a difficult time choosing which one to focus on for this post.  I settled on this portion about keeping vows because I've been watching political debates for a while now, and I keep getting frustrated with candidates who make vows they know they can't/won't keep.

I've been old enough to vote for the last two presidential elections.  In both cases, the candidate I voted for won the election.  Also in both cases, the promises that I had heard them speak were not fulfilled.  George W. Bush railed against nation-building, yet he sent troops halfway around the world to fight a "War on Terror" that didn't even target the people who had terrorized America.  Barack Obama promised to bring those troops home, and the first thing he did as president was send more troops away.

Of course, that's just one example from each of them.  If I wanted to list all of the shortcomings I'm frustrated about, this post would be obscenely long and nobody would read past the first paragraph.  Ultimately, the point I would like to make is that the character of a man should mean more than his promises - especially where politics are concerned, because in those situations you can almost always rest assured that the promises will not be kept.

Question of the Day:

Is there any man or woman we can trust with the power we've given to our government?  Isn't that why our founders made sure that laws, regulations, enforcement, and judgement should be handled at the most local level possible?

Prayer of the Day:

Lord, only You know what it will take to fix the problems that our country has gotten ourselves into.  Guide our hearts and minds with wisdom and caution as we prepare for another election cycle.  Rise up good men and women of character who are worthy of our trust, and expose the fraudulent nature of those who would run against them.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 22: A Good Neighbor

"If you see your brother's ox or sheep straying, you must not ignore it; make sure you return it to your brother.  If your brother does not live near you or you don't know him, you are to bring the animal to your home to remain with you until your brother comes looking for it; then you can return it to him."

Deuteronomy 22:1-2

I've actually been in this situation quite recently.  When the terrible storms ravished northern Alabama in April of this year, my wife and son and I emerged from our home the next morning to find a stray dog happily trotting up our driveway.  The collar had no tag, so we didn't know to whom he belonged.  We put a leash on him, walked him around the neighborhood to ask our neighbors if they knew him, and eventually ended up keeping him in our front yard until his owners showed up.

I bring this story up, not to show something that I did right, but rather to show the effect that it had.  The neighbors were an elderly couple whose children had moved away decades ago, and whose only at-home companion was this dog.  They were extremely grateful that we had fed him and given him water, and even more so that we had put so much effort into making sure he was returned to his owners.

The dog had gotten loose because the storms knocked so many trees over in our neighborhood, many of which did serious damage to property.  Even though this couple had multiple trees fallen on the roof of their home, their outdoor shed, and their two backyard fences, they spent their entire morning searching for this dog before they even called their insurance company.

Living animals are more important than other types of property for many reasons, which don't really need to be explained here.  The point is that a neighbor who has lost an animal needs your help every bit as much as a neighbor whose house is on fire (or knocked around by a tornado, as the case may be).

Question of the Day:

When you see a neighbor's animal loose, what do you do to help?  When your neighbor has any other need, what do you do to help?

Prayer of the Day:

Thank You for giving me the chance to help a neighbor reunite with his dog earlier this year.  Thank You for keeping my family and home safe during the storms so that we were in the right mindset to help others instead of worrying about ourselves.  Thank You for the way You brought the people of this whole community together in that tragic event, and for letting me see Your work as neighbors helped people they'd never known before.  Help us to keep that mindset always.  Help us to be good neighbors to all those we come into contact with on a day-to-day basis.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 21: The Death Penalty

"If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father or mother and doesn't listen to them even after they discipline him,"

Deuteronomy 21:18

I'm astonished at how nonchalantly Ancient Israel's law recommends the death penalty.  A rebellious son as described above is to be taken to the gate of his city and stoned to death.  How could any father bring himself to do this?  I understand that the wages of sin is death, and that rebelling against one's parents violates the Ten Commandments, but as a father myself I cannot imagine a man doing this to his own son!

The more I read the Old Testament, the more I realize that I should have been dead a long time ago.  If our current society gave the death penalty as freely as Israel did, I'd have died at least a few dozen times by now, if not hundreds!  What son isn't guilty of stubbornly rebelling against his father from time to time?

Question of the Day:

How is your relationship with Christ (and the people around you) change when you fully understand that you deserve death for your sinful actions?

Prayer of the Day:

Thank You, Lord, for your mercy and grace!  Thank You for life everlasting, and for giving me so many second-chances that I could never use them all up!  I am completely and utterly undeserving of Your love, yet You have found me to be worth Saving.  Thank You for moving Your Spirit over me and my house.  Thank You for bringing us into the Light and allowing us to overcome our hurts and fears.  Thank You for giving me another day - another chance to make right all the wrongs of my past.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 20: When Waging War

"When you approach a city to fight against it, you must make an offer of peace.  If it accepts your offer of peace and opens its gates to you, all the people found in it will become forced laborers for you and serve you.  However, if it does not make peace with you but wages war against you, lay siege to it."

Deuteronomy 20:10-12

I think these are the verses that our supposedly Christian governing body has been looking at for far too long.  Unfortunately, they're forgetting that the USA is not Israel, is not the chosen nation of God, and hasn't been told by God to go to war with the world.

If God had called us to go to war with every nation in the Middle East, we would know because victory would be swift and opposition would be weakened supernaturally.  Instead, we continue to engage in wars against peoples who don't deserve our butchery.  We murder innocent civilians all around the world, claiming that it's in our national defense interest.

The American people let this happen because we've been duped into believing that the rest of the world hates us for our riches and our freedoms.  The truth we have failed to see is that we are poorer and less free than many of the people we kill.  Presidential "executive orders" give the federal government the right to monitor, imprison, torture, and even assassinate anyone in the world (including American citizens at home or abroad).  Our economy is in the worst state it's ever been in, and our government is bankrupt.  I don't think the countries we drone-bomb are jealous of this state of affairs.

Question of the Day:

What can we do as citizens to reverse this assault on our personal God-given liberties?

Prayer of the Day:

Lead me and my fellow countrymen in the upcoming elections.  Help us to oust the folks who are voting to take away our liberties and engage in endless wars.  Help us to instate leaders who truly serve You and are not willing to be bought by the highest bidder.  Help us elect representatives who are men and women of integrity.  Help us to educate ourselves about current events instead of trusting the politicians and media to do it for us.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 19: Eye for an Eye

"You must not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot."

Deuteronomy 19:21

For the first time in my life, I understand the context of this verse - and it's vastly different from what I've been taught by contemporary thinkers.  Read the verses above it:

"The judges are to make a careful investigation, and if the witness turns out to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother, you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother.  You must purge the evil from you."

Deuteronomy 19:18-19

The "eye for an eye" verse isn't talking about paying back someone who has wronged you.  It's not about revenge at all.  It's about the accuser.  It's about being careful what you wish upon others because you'll be judged by the same standard, and you'll be given the same punishment.

Question of the Day:

How often do you wish ill on others, claiming that they have wronged you?  What punishment would you be willing to take if you were wrong in accusing them?  What punishment would you be willing to take if you were convicted of wronging others the same way?

Prayer of the Day:

Give me a merciful heart, Lord.  Convict me of my own wrongdoing so that I will be less harsh towards others who do wrong.  Remove the plank from my own eye so that I may be able to see the speck in my brother's eye, and be better able to help him remove it rather than punish him for it.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 18: Testing Prophets

"When a prophet speaks in the Lord's name, and the message does not come true or is not fulfilled, that message is a message the Lord has not spoken.  The prophet has spoken it presumptuously.  Do not be afraid of him."

Deuteronomy 18:22

What is a prophet?  When asked this question, most people give a response that's something like, "a person who tells the future before it happens."  This is actually not entirely true.  Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.com, Answers.com, Wikipedia, and Google Dictionary all use slightly different wording to define a prophet as a person who either speaks with God's voice or whose speaking is inspired by divine revelation of some form.

Every religion has its prophets, even today.  The word could easily be used to describe pastors (or their equivalent in other religions/denominations), religious authors, enlightened speakers, friends discussing religious beliefs on a sunny afternoon, or even most politicians.  Yes, we always hear them say things like, "I feel Called by the Lord to run for this office, so you should vote for me because I'm the Chosen One."  Okay, so they're usually more PC about it, but this is all I hear when the talking heads get on stage.

In all of these cases, we should test them based on the above-quoted criteria.  It's quite simple, really - check and double-check to see if their words have come true.  If not, they're a liar and an impersonator, and we shouldn't fear them (nor should we attend to their churches, share sunny afternoon debatess with, or vote for them ever again).

Challenge of the Day:

Next time someone says they're Called by God or claims to speak for Him, check the truth of what they say.  Read your bible to see if their words match with God's Word.  Look at the world around you to see if the things they talk about are really happening.  Even if the person has proven truthful in the past, check and double check to ensure their words are true.  Don't believe anything anybody tells you (especially not me) without looking a little deeper.

Prayer of the Day:

Guide me as I reach more readers with this blog, and prevent me from leading them away from You.  Guide my readers to check my words and correct me when I'm wrong.  Help all of us to recognize false prophets in the world around us, and help us to expose them and expel them from our lives, so that we will not be led astray by their untruths.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 17: Prohibiting Polygamy

"He must not acquire many wives for himself so that his heart won't go astray.  He must not acquire very large amounts of silver and gold for himself."

Deuteronomy 17:17

In this passage, the Lord is referring to the appointment of kings, and the rules that should be instated for him when he is chosen.  The quote above is just a snippet.  It goes on to say that the king himself should write a copy of these rules, keep it with him, and read it every day for the rest of his life.  That's a pretty strong way of telling us how important the passage is.

We all know that the kings didn't follow this statute.  We've read and/or heard about all the wives, concubines, and rich treasures that various kings of Israel obtained, even Solomon and David, who were supposed to be the good role-model kings.  We're taught at a young age that these two in particular were favored by God, and we even talk about how David was a man after God's own heart.

I have yet to read any passage which requires an ordinary non-king of Israel to keep only one wife, but I see no reason why this passage for kings shouldn't apply to all mankind.  It describes the specific problem that comes from having many wives - "so that his heart won't go astray."  I'd say that even the thought of having a second wife is an example of a stray heart.  We married men owe it to our wives to devote ourselves to them entirely, and unmarried men owe it to their future wives to do the same.

Question of the Day:

How could these kings so blatantly violate God's command and still earn His loyalty?  Simple - the same way you and I do.  God has always been forgiving in nature because He knows the temptation we face, and He knows every man's heart completely.

Prayer of the Day:

Lord, keep my eyes and heart pure.  Do not ever let me entertain the notion of knowing another woman besides the wife You have given me.  I am thankful for the bounty of blessing she is in my life, none of which I deserve.  Help me to live up to Your expectations as the head of my household, just as a king would as the head of his nation.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 16: Bribery

"Do not deny justice or show partiality to anyone.  Do not accept a bribe, for it blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous."

Deuteronomy 16:19

Anyone living in Alabama has probably heard of the uproar of teachers against recent ethics law changes.  For those of you who aren't Alabamians, I'll simplify it for you:

1. Our state had a problem with high-ranking public officials accepting tickets to high-profile sporting events as a form of lobbying - the universities in turn expected those officials to vote for increased spending in the sports department.  Tickets to sporting events were allowed under previous ethics law, and weren't considered a bribe by the courts.
2. The state passed a much more broad law this year, basically stating that any public official is not allowed to accept any gift unless it is of "de minimis value" (gifts from family and friends are of course still allowed, so long as a "long-standing previous relationship" can be displayed).
3. Several teachers throughout the state have been fired, fined, and even jailed for accepting gifts (such as gift cards or Thanksgiving hams) from their students or the parents of their students.  Obviously, this is upsetting to teachers throughout the state because we can't really affect public policy, and we've always been allowed to accept gifts like this in the past without question.

At what point does a gift become a bribe?  Is it in the intent of the giver, the intent of the receiver, or the subconscious undertones of either one?  I am an elementary school art teacher, so I don't assign grades for my students (just a pass/fail, and nobody has ever failed).  Is there anything that parents or students could bribe me for?

Ultimately, the answer is still YES!  Whether we think about it or not, our subconscious will remember who gave us gifts, what they were, and how pleased they make us feel.  Whether we try to or not, we can't help but let this affect the way we treat those students.  Even though the gift is intended as thanks for a job well done, it can become a bribe without us even knowing.  It can blind the eyes of the wise and twist the words of the righteous, and we won't even know it's happening to us!  It gives us incentive to help those students, while we unknowingly leave behind the student who can't afford to buy a present for us.

In some scenarios, our culture has made bribery a legitimate practice - take, for example, a restaurant waiter.  The tips he receives are a direct bribe for better service.  On the other hand, a business like Publix grocery stores (who don't allow employees to take tips) provides wonderful service even without these bribes to look forward to (a gentleman helped me take groceries out last week in the freezing rain, with a smile on his face and a kind word about the holidays) because that's part of his job.

Question of the Day:

From whom would you accept a gift?  Your family?  Friends?  A friend of a friend?  A coworker?  Your boss?  Your client or customer?  At what point does it blind your eyes and twist your words?  At what point do you start making excuses for accepting it?

Prayer of the Day:

Open my eyes and untwist my words.  Show me how the gifts I'm given change my attitudes towards the people around me.  Teach me to keep my actions pure, not just in my intentions, but in reality.  Do not let me accept bribes, nor the blindness and foolishness that accompany them.  Guide our state's and nation's leaders away from bribes as well, so that we may once again become a prosperous nation.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 15: Financial Freedom

"When the Lord your God blesses you as He has promised you, you will lend to many nations but not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you."

Deuteronomy 15:6

This chapter details the Lord's forgiveness of debt every seven years, the Lord's command for giving to the poor, and the release of slaves every seven years.  All of these focus on the idea of fiscal conservatism and sound money.

About freedom from debt... God tells His people that, if we keep His commands, we will lend but never borrow.  The cause-and-effect here are quite plain to see, if you remember what God's commands are.  The tenth Commandment instructs us not to covet what other people have.  If we can simply be happy with our own blessings and stop trying to buy up everyone else's blessings, we won't need to go into debt in the first place.  If you're already in debt, keeping this commandment in mind can help you to pay it off more quickly.

About freedom from poverty... God instructs His people to lend to the poor, even if we know they can never pay us back.  Here's the way I think of it - whenever someone has a true need that you can provide for and is asking for help, give it to them outright and tell them it's a gift (not a loan).  If they pay it back, accept it, but don't ever hold the loan over their head and don't let their inability to pay back stop you from giving.  If you don't help others in need, how can you expect others to help you when you are in need?

About freedom from slavery... A slave is someone who is bound to work for no pay, usually because they've become so indebted that they can't even hope to work off their debt.  God commands His people to let these slaves go every seven years, and to give them a parting gift as well!  The more an Israelite gave his parting slave, the more God would bless him.  This kind of slavery doesn't exactly happen the way it used to, but there are many in our modern culture who are slaves to a lender - who are so far into debt that lenders are taking every penny of what they earn.  Ultimately, these "slaves" must end up filing for bankruptcy and starting over completely.  If you know someone who is in this tragic state, bless them by giving them some form of foundation to start over with.

Question of the Day:

Are you a financial slave?  Do you know anyone who is a financial slave?  What can you do to help yourself, your family, your friends, and the needy around you become more financially free?  What can you do to help your country, which is currently in a desperate financial situation?

Prayer of the Day:

Thank you for blessing me so abundantly!  Provide me with opportunities to share my blessings with the needy around me.  Help me to know Your plans for my finances, and help me to stay fiscally responsible with all the areas of my budget so that I am more able to help others in need.  Amen.