“…turned the curse into a blessing for your, because the Lord your God loves you” (Deuteronomy 23:5). Moses is referring back to the time when Balaam was hired to curse the Israelites, but God turned it around. The phrase I bolded makes me pause. Here we are a week away from Christmas, reading about our ancient forefathers and some of the most brutal times I know when suddenly this phrase, “because the Lord your God loves you.” Just a bit further, as we read more rules, “For the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you” (Deuteronomy 23:14).
The takeaway for me is simple: there are good reasons “why” all of this stuff is happening and those reasons center on the fact that God, the Creator of all, loves us. He cares about us and is working in our lives to protect us. Crazy!
The Christmas tree looks great and our girls are excited to celebrate together. I hope and pray we can somehow grasp this concept that God is moving in our lives.
Yesterday the passage discussed not going to war if you were engaged to be married. This law adds another dimension to God’s desire for us to have a healthy marriage:
If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married. Deuteronomy 24:5
What a concept: stay at home and bring happiness. This is certainly a gem to extract from the reading today!
Thoughts about serving others
This link includes a list of posts about Serving the Least, the Lost, and the Lonely.
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Let the Word evoke words. May your life encourage lives.