May 9, 2013
Central Truth
God knows what you are going through, so trust and honor Him through your choices.
"If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall surely release it with him." (Exodus 23:4-5)
1 You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. 2 You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, 3 nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.
4 If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. 5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.
6 You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. 7 Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked. 8 And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.
9 You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
10 For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.
12 Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.
13 Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.
14 Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed. 16 You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor. 17 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God.
18 You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning.
19 The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God.
You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
20 Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.
22 But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
23 When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, 24 you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. 25 You shall serve the LORD your God, and he 1 23:25 Septuagint, Vulgate I will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. 26 None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. 27 I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets 2 23:28 Or the hornet before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. 31 And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, 3 23:31 Hebrew the River for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
Exodus talks about the Law of the Covenant. God, speaking through Moses, explained how to honor and obey Him! The people of Israel were spiritually standing in a "land between." On one side was the option of honoring and obeying God. On the other side was the option of dishonoring and disobeying Him. In the covenant God was laying out for them how they should behave, what choices they should make, so they could live a life pleasing to Him and move into the Promised Land. God had to give these laws because the Israelites were a forgetful and sinful people. Although God brought them through the Red Sea, gave them water from a rock, and provided food and shelter for them daily, they still did not believe or trust in God!
I know in my life I forget to trust in God. He has brought me through my struggle with addiction to a place of constant sobriety and a life full of love! He has enabled me to be a good parent when I didn't think I could do it alone. He brought me from being homeless and hopeless to being a strong believer who is a productive member of society with a job and a roof over my head. But, at times I still forget that He loves me and cares for me!
I read a book called The Land Between, and it completely changed my view of God. The author's main point is that God sees and knows what you are going through and He cares! I need to be reminded of that!
Sometimes, one of the hardest things for me to do, even today, is to make a God-honoring, others-focused choice. It can be hard for me to treat people as loved children of God, when I feel they are against me or have become my enemies. God laid out in verses 4-5 how to treat your friends and how to treat your enemies. We are to treat them with love and compassion. That is a hard one! But, if I want God to be glorified in my choices, I need to make the next God-honoring, others-focused choice. I need to help my enemy the way I would help my friends or family. I want to care for others like God does.
1. What do you deem to be the biggest distraction in your life, such that you forget God's love for you?
2. What keeps you from loving your enemy?
3. How did Jesus respond to His enemies? (For a good summary of Jesus' teaching on this point, read Matthew 5:43-48.)