Animals Injured or Killed (Ex. 21:33-36)

6/28/2008 7:40 AM

My Worship Time           Focus:  Animals injured or killed

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 21:33-36

            Message of the verses:  “33  "If a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it over, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34  the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall become his.

35  "If one man’s ox hurts another’s so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide its price equally; and also they shall divide the dead ox.  36  "Or if it is known that the ox was previously in the habit of goring, yet its owner has not confined it, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal shall become his.”

            In these four verses God gives laws concerning animals and what happens if an animal dies or is killed at the fault of another person or person’s animal. 

            When the children of Israel would get into the Promised Land most of them would be farmers and therefore there animals would be very important to them for tilling the land and also for food, so if a person’s animal was killed from the neglect of another person of person’s animal it would cause hardship to the family whose animal was destroyed. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There are principles in these laws that I have read about this morning that can apply to life in the 21^st century America today.  I am responsible for my actions, actions such as driving my car and hurting someone while driving, or damaging someone’s car.  These laws show the justice of God and they also are important for the society that people live in here on planet earth.

            If I look at these laws in response to Sandy’s case of malpractice then I would think that the doctor who did the malpractice is responsible to compensate her for the damage that was done to her body.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Trust the Lord to care for me as I prepare to go to Hawaii on this new job with HRSG.
2. Be yoked with the Lord Jesus Christ today because I need his strength to get through each and every day of my life.
3. Trust the Lord to make away of escape when the trials, tests, and temptations become more for me to bear.
4. Trust the Lord to guide me onto the path He wants me on.
5. Give myself to the Lord today for service and worship.
6. Pray that I will learn contentment through the trials, tests, and temptations that I go through.

Memory verses for the week:                      Colossians 4:12-13

12.    Epaphras, who is one of you number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all of the will of God.

13.    For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

6/28/2008 8:17 AM

Those Injured by Animals (Ex. 21:28-32)

6/27/2008 6:55 AM

My Worship Time           Focus:  Those injured by animals

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 21:28-32

            Message of the verses:  “28  "If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished.  29  "If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death.  30  "If a ransom is demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is demanded of him.  31  "Whether it gores a son or a daughter, it shall be done to him according to the same rule.  32  "If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall give his or her master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.”

            As I have looked at these laws that God has given to Israel through Moses they are laws that are fair and this is the case of the law that is here in these verses.

            Sometimes it is hard for me to find spiritual truth in these passages, but it seems that God will always give me a nugget from His Word as He has promised.

            Now if a man has an bull and it gores a person to death the bull will be stoned, but not eaten because it had been defiled by the evil act.  The owner of the bull will not be punished, however if the bull has had a habit of hurting people and then kills someone then both the bull and its owner shall be put to death.  Now there are a couple exceptions to this penalty of death.  If the family of the victim wants compensation for this act then the owner of the bull can pay them what the family requires of him.  There is no distinction between a male or female victim.  If the bull would kill a slave then the owner would have to pay thirty pieces of silver, but the bull would still have to be killed.

            Dr. Wiersbe points out that when Judas went to the priests to find out what they would pay him to give Jesus to them that they paid him thirty pieces of silver, the price for the death of a slave.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  In the Jewish Law a slave was worth thirty pieces of silver, which probably was quite a lot of money, however I would suppose that slaves in other countries were not worth this amount if any at all.

            In the eyes of God I am worth much more than a slave because God sent His only Son into the world to pay the price for my redemption and the cost to God was so much more than thirty pieces of silver. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. I have to trust the Lord with the outcome of the colon test that I am going have this morning, and also I have to trust the Lord to get me through this test as He has the past two times.
2. Now that the Hawaiian job has been given to Tim’s company and I am scheduled to leave on the fifth of July I will have to leave this in the hands of the Lord as I have tried to in the past.  There was a time when I truly would have been upset if we would not have been given this job, however because of all of the delays and all the things that have been happening in our family I would not have been disappointed if this job would not have come through.  I have prayed about this a lot and have left the outcome to this in the Lord’s hands and am thankful for answered prayer.

Memory verses for the week:                      Colossians 4:12-13

12.    Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.

13.    For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis. 

6/27/2008 7:30 AM 

A Pregrant Woman Injured (Ex. 21:22-27)

6/26/2008 8:18 AM

My Worship Time           Focus:  A pregnant woman injured

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 21:22-27

          Message of the verses:  “22 ¶  "If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide.  23  "But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, 24  eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25  burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.  26  "If a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave, and destroys it, he shall let him go free on account of his eye.  27  "And if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let him go free on account of his tooth.”

            I have to admit that I was not looking at the outline in Dr. Wiersbe’s book correctly, and therefore I took too many verses in yesterday’s SD and therefore I will have to look at some more in depth today.  Yesterday’s SD covered the portion about slaves in verses 20-21, and so I will move on to verses 22-27 in today’s SD, which are about the injuries to a pregnant woman and also this section talks about the punishment fitting the crime, and that was quite revealing to me.

            In this section from Exodus there are some very “famous” verses that are sometimes misrepresented, I believe, as to what their true meaning is.  In verse 22 there is a story about two men fighting and in the course of their fight there is a pregnant woman injured.  Moses is saying that if the woman or her baby is injured that the punishment then the punishment shall fit the crime.  If a man puts the eye of another man out then the punishment shall be as the crime was and that is that the man who put the eye out thus shall have his eye put out.  Let’s say that a man would get into a fight with another man and an arm was broken, the person who broke the arm should not have his eye blinded for that punishment would not fit the crime.  In the case of the pregnant woman if she gave birth to a baby who would have been injured because of her getting hurt during a fight then the punishment would be determined by a judge.  There is one more scenario here that needs to be discussed here and that is about a slave, for the punishment for a master hurting a slave was different for if a master of a slave puts out the eye of one of his slaves then that slave is to be set free and by setting the persons slave free would be the punishment of the one who owns the slave for he would be loosing his slave.

            I would now like to quote a portion of Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on this section:  “When Jesus prohibited His disciples from retaliating against those who hurt them (Matthew 5:38-44; I Peter 2:19-21), He was dealing with personal revenge (I’ll get even with you!”) and encouraging personal forgiveness.  He wasn’t criticizing Moses or interfering with the legal system, because He came to fulfill the Law and not to destroy it (Matthew 5:17-20).  As believers, we have the privilege of waiving our “legal rights” to the glory of God and not demanding compensation (I Corinthians 6:1-8).  However, a judge has to see that justice is done and the law is respected.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  God’s law demands justice and in Matthew 5:17 Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the Law, but He came to fulfill the Law.  When I sin I sin against God and therefore the Law of God has been broken by me and justice must be paid by me, but “Jesus paid it all” as the song says, Jesus took my punishment on the cross and thus fulfilled the demands of the Law just as He said in Matthew 5:17, Jesus fulfilled the Law for me and as the song continues “all to Him I owe.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Be yoked with the Lord Jesus Christ as He spoke of in Matthew 11:28-30:  “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
2. I want to rely upon the Holy Spirit to make this verse true in my life as I am yoked with my Lord today for I am weary and heavy laden and my yoke is not easy and my burden is not light.

Memory verse for the week:                                   Colossians 4:12-13

12.    Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.

13.    For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

6/26/2008 9:31 AM

Injuries (Ex 21:18-32)

6/25/2008 8:24 AM

My Worship Time           Focus:  Injuries

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 21:18-32

            Message of the verses:  “18  "If men have a quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but remains in bed, 19  if he gets up and walks around outside on his staff, then he who struck him shall go unpunished; he shall only pay for his loss of time, and shall take care of him until he is completely healed.  20  "If a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod and he dies at his hand, he shall be punished.  21  "If, however, he survives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken; for he is his property.

22 ¶  "If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide.  23  "But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, 24  eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25  burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.  26  "If a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave, and destroys it, he shall let him go free on account of his eye.  27  "And if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let him go free on account of his tooth.  28  "If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished.  29  "If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death.  30  "If a ransom is demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is demanded of him.  31  "Whether it gores a son or a daughter, it shall be done to him according to the same rule.  32  "If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall give his or her master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.”

This large section of Scripture has to do with the injury of people, mostly injuries done through fighting or sometimes an accidental thing happens to another person by an animal.  It also covers the beating of a slave and this law is a little bit confusing to me, but I will write what I think it may mean.  I am speaking of what verses twenty and twenty one are saying.  There were laws to protect a slave as seen in these two verses, laws that were not in other countries, for if a slave owner wanted to kill one of his slaves it was viewed as his property and therefore he could do it.  It could be seen today as if a farmer was mad because his tractor was not working so he, out of anger burned up his tractor, well that would be his loss, just as it would be the loss of a slave owner in another country who gets mad at his slave and kills him or her.  I think because verse twenty speaks of hitting a slave with a rod that the slave owner is disciplining his slave and the slave is killed due to the disciplining of his slave.  He is to be punished for this, and I think that the punishment would be up to a judge.  It must be remembered that the slave owner was not using a sword to actually kill his slave, but a rod. 

God has given these laws to Moses for the nation of Israel, yet these Laws are perfect because they come from the Lord.  “Ps 19:7  The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I wrote mostly about slaves and the laws that God had for slaves.  Was slavery right?  I do not think that slavery is right, but because man is in a sinful condition from his birth and remains that way until his death, for even those who become believers in Jesus Christ still have a sin nature, for these reasons I believe God deals with this condition.  When Jesus was on planet earth there was a very large part of the population that was slaves. 

The thing that I can take away from this passage for my life today comes from my memory verse for these past weeks, and that verse has the word bondslave in it, and a bondslave is a slave that has a desire to serve his master because of his love for him.  The picture of a bondslave is in the OT and has been written about in a previous SD.  I have a greater and greater desire as I grow older and older in Christ to be His bondslave and that is what I take out of this passage for today.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Romans 12:1-2.
2. Colossians 4:12.
3. Proverbs 3:5-6.
4. 1 Cor. 10:13.
5. Matthew 11:28-30.
6. Philippians 4:11

Memory verses for the week:                      Colossians 4:12-13

12.    Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.

13.    For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis. 

6/25/2008 9:14 AM 

Kidnapping Is A Capital Crime (Ex. 21:16)

6/24/2008 6:38 AM

My Worship Time           Focus:  Kidnapping is punishable by death

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 21:16; Deu. 24:7

          Message of the verses:  “16  "He who kidnaps a man, whether he sells him or he is found in his possession, shall surely be put to death.”

            “7  "If a man is caught kidnapping any of his countrymen of the sons of Israel, and he deals with him violently or sells him, then that thief shall die; so you shall purge the evil from among you.”

            Again this is a repeat of verse sixteen in this SD as it was already used in an earlier SD, but this is the way that Dr. Wiersbe is doing it in his book that I am using.

            In Exodus 20:15, which is one of the Ten Commandments it states that stealing is wrong, so if stealing someone’s property is wrong then stealing a person who is made in the image of God is wrong too, probably even a worse crime.

            There are several possible reasons as to why one would kidnap another person and one of those reasons is to get money from the kidnapped person’s family or friends, and another possible reason is to sell the kidnapped person as a slave.  This type of sin was committed in the early times of the United States when slave traders would go to Africa and kidnap Africans to bring them back to the US in order to sell them as a slave.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The statement at the end of Deuteronomy which says, “so you shall purge the evil from among you,” reminds me of how I am to deal with sin in my life.  As I ask the Lord to search my heart for any sin that I may not have confessed or even remember doing or sinning and not realizing that what I did was sin, then I need to purge this evil from myself by confessing and repenting of this sin in order to have wonderful fellowship with the Lord.  David writes about this in Psalm 32 saying that he even became physically ill because of his unconfessed sin.  “3  When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long.  4  For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.  5  I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.”

My Steps of Faith for Today: 

1. As God to search my heart for unconfessed sin in order to receive cleansing from the Lord.
2. Yoke up with the Lord Jesus Christ this day.
3. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service today.
4. Seek the Lord to guide my path today.
5. Seek the Lord to make a way of escape from the temptations and testings that have become too difficult for me to handle at this time.

Memory verses for the week:                      Colossians 4:12-13

12.    Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, send you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.

13.    For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

6/24/2008 7:12 AM   

Chrildren & Parents (Ex. 21:15 & 17)

6/23/2008 8:47 AM

My Worship Time           Focus:  Children and parents

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 21:15; 17

            Message of the verses:  “15 “He who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.”  17 “He who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.”

            I am repeating two of the verses that were from yesterday’s SD because I try to follow the outline in Dr. Wiersbe’s book on Exodus that I am using to help me to understand Exodus. 

            Lev. 20:9 repeats the laws that are in Exodus 21:17:  “9 ‘If there is anyone who curses his father or his mother, he shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother, his bloodguiltiness is upon him.’”

            These verses move from the general parts of the Law to the more specific parts of the Law, and in this case it involves children and parents.  The fifth commandment says that we are to honor are parents and so in these verses we see the opposite of honoring them, and this results in the death of the child according to this law from God. 

            When a child does not respect his parents he usually will not respect any authority figure and so in if this Law that is given in these verses is carried out then the nation of Israel will not have the problems that would result if there were no such law.  God’s laws are given to benefit a person, a family and a nation so if they are kept the family and the nation will benefit from these laws.  If all children would have the respect for their parents they would learn to respect other authority figures that came along in their lives, people such as their bosses or the government, and so this would help in the development of not only the family but also the nation that they live in.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I grew up in the ‘60’s and the theme of that generation was to reject authority, to do one’s own thing, and this was engrained in me for many years and when I became a believer in 1974 I did not want to even join a local church because I felt that there was none that was teaching the things that I was learning, and this was a result of being raised in the ‘60’s.  God was patient with me and in time I did join GBC and to this day am still a member of it.  I know from time to time that I still have a problem with authority figures, and this lesson and reading the book by Alistair Begg has also helped me to understand how the Law of God works in my life today, the benefits of it are life changing.

My Steps of Faith for Today: 

1. To respect authority figures in my life.
2. To give myself to the Lord for service and worship.
3. To ask the Lord to search my heart to find any sin in my life that I have not confessed.
4. Trust the Lord to guide my paths.
5. Trust the Lord to make a way of escape when tests and temptations get too hard for me to bare.
6. To yoke up with the Lord Jesus Christ today.

Memory verses for the week:                      Colossians 4:12-13

12.       Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.

13.       For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis. 

6/23/2008 9:39 AM

Capital Crimes (Ex. 21:12-17)

6/22/2008 8:00 AM

My Worship Time           Focus:  Capital Crimes

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 21:12-17

            Message of the verses:  “12 ¶  "He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death.  13  "But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint you a place to which he may flee.  14  "If, however, a man acts presumptuously toward his neighbor, so as to kill him craftily, you are to take him even from My altar, that he may die.  15  "He who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.  16  "He who kidnaps a man, whether he sells him or he is found in his possession, shall surely be put to death.  17  "He who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.” 

            The crimes that are listed in these verses are all punishable by death and some of these crimes are just relate to Jewish laws, although in most countries premeditated murder is punishable by death even today.  I find it interesting that Dr. Wiersbe points out that there was no police force in the land of Israel.  When a person commits a crime against another person the family’s victim was expected to take care of justice.

            Israel had laws given by God to protect them and they are a very family orientated people and so as the Jewish mothers and fathers were raising their children they were suppose to instill in them these laws that God had given them and because of this they were expected to keep them as they grew up, and this could be why the crimes were to be so severely punished. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It can be seen that these above laws given by God come back to the Ten Commandments and therefore because I am a believer I am to keep those commandments out of my love for the Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Give myself to the Lord for service and worship.
2. Seek the Lord to guide my path today.
3. Be yoked with the Lord Jesus Christ whose burden is light.
4. Trust the Lord to search my heart for sin.
5. Trust that the Lord will make a way of escape from overwhelming tests and temptations.

Memory verses for the week:                      Colossians 4:12-13

12.    Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.

13.    For I  testify for him that that he has a deep concern for you and for those in Laodicea and Hierapolis. 

6/22/2008 8:22 AM

Laws about Servants (Ex. 21:1-22)

6/21/2008 11:54 AM

My Worship Time           Focus:  Laws about servants

Bible Reading & Meditation     Reference:  Exodus 21:1-11; Lev. 25:39-43; Deut. 15:12-18

          Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  "Now these are the ordinances which you are to set before them:  2  "If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment.  3  "If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him.

4  "If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out alone.  5  "But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’ 6  then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.  7  "If a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do.  8  "If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her to a foreign people because of his unfairness to her.  9  "If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters.  10  "If he takes to himself another woman, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights.  11  "If he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.”

            “39 ¶  ‘If a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service.  40  ‘He shall be with you as a hired man, as if he were a sojourner; he shall serve with you until the year of jubilee.  41  ‘He shall then go out from you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, that he may return to the property of his forefathers.

42  ‘For they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale.  43  ‘You shall not rule over him with severity, but are to revere your God.”

            “12 ¶  "If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free.  13  "When you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed.  14  "You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you.  15  "You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.  16  "It shall come about if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you; 17  then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant.  18  "It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has given you six years with double the service of a hired man; so the LORD your God will bless you in whatever you do.”

            This section is about slaves, but in reality the children of Israel were not suppose to make slaves out of their own people, like they made slaves out of people from other nations.  There were many slaves during this time and so God made laws so that these people were treated humanly.

            This section speaks about male and female slaves from the children of Israel and one of the most interesting parts of this section is when a male slave goes to another child of Israel and stays with him for six years and then by law can be let go, but the slave desires to stay with the person that he is serving so the owner takes the slave to the doorpost of his house and pierces his ear.  After that he remains in the service of that person for the rest of his live, but not as a slave.  If he was given a wife by the master and then decides to leave after six years the wife and any children will stay with the master, but the man may go free.

            There were different rules for male and female slaves, and if a poor man has a daughter and wants to sell her to another person to be his concubine then she must stay with that person as a kind of second wife to him.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can see that the slave that decides to stay with his owner and has his ear pierced is like a bondslave to his owner and that is what I am to the Lord Jesus Christ since He took my sins upon Himself at the cross and then gave me His righteousness.  Dr. Wiersbe points out at the beginning of this section is his book that, “Justice is the practical outworking of the righteousness of God in human history.”  God took my sins and put them on the Lord Jesus Christ while on the cross, and therefore justice was served and then because that justice was served God’s righteousness was given to me because the price was paid for my sins.  And because God’s righteousness has been given to me I am free to serve Him as a bondslave of Jesus Christ.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Trust the Lord in these uncertain times of financial problems and also health issues.
2. Be yoked up with the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Trust the Lord to make a way to escape temptation and testing when it is too hard to bear.
4. Give myself to the Lord for service and worship.

Memory verses for the week:                      Colossians 4:12-13

12.    Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring fervently for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.

13.    For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

  

God Is Unseen: Hear His Word (Ex. 20:21-26)

6/20/2008 7:54 AM

My Worship Time           Focus:  God is unseen: hear His Word

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 20:21-26

            Message of the verses:  “21  So the people stood at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.

22 ¶  Then the LORD said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven.  23  ‘You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves.  24  ‘You shall make an altar of earth for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.

25  ‘If you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it. 26  ‘And you shall not go up by steps to My altar, so that your nakedness will not be exposed on it.’”

            This section of Scripture begins a new chapter in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Exodus and goes from Exodus 20:22-24:8.  The chapter is entitled “The Book of The Covenant.”

            God does not share His glory with anyone or anything and idols were something that God is very much opposed to and this section has to do with idols.  In Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on this section he writes about the Word of God and how the believers today, and also Israel of the past should be people of the Book.  Now the Pharisees of Jesus’ day made the Scriptures an idol for if they would have truly studied the Scriptures they would have seen Jesus in them and then they would have worshiped Him.  John 5:37-47 speaks of this:  “37  "And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.  38  "You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.  39  "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; 40  and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. 41  "I do not receive glory from men; 42  but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. 43  "I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44  "How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?  45  "Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope.  46  "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.  47  "But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?’”

            One of the reasons that God did not allow anyone to see Him was that they would have made an idol of Him and worshiped the idol instead of Him. 

            God’s law was given by Him and is perfect just as He is perfect however the Law will not save anyone as Paul wrote:  “because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”  This is Romans 3:20 a passage that I read this morning before starting on this part of my devotions. 

            In the heathen religious ceremonies there was nakedness and there was prostitution, but there was special dress for the priest of God and in verse twenty-six of Exodus twenty God told the people that their altars should not have steps so that the nakedness of the people would not be revealed when they would go up the steps.  God also told them to make their altars out of earth or out of uncut stones for their altars could become an idol.  Idols do not only take the place of the person of God, but they take the place of the Word of God.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I wrote earlier either in my prayer page of in my SD that I had had a thought come to my mind right before I saw the blood in the commode that this would keep me from going to the job in Hawaii and was very disturbed about it, even to the extent of calling Pastor Steve and speaking to him about it.  I am now convinced that this thought was either from my flesh or from the enemy using my flesh to discourage me.  The reason that I write about this now is that this SD has helped me come to that conclusion for the Word of God is how I learn and even communicate with the God of the Word.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Seek the Lord to search my heart for any sin.
2. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
3. Yoke myself up with the Lord Jesus Christ.
4. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
5. Learn to pray as Epaphras prayed.

Memory verses for the week:                      Colossians 4:12-13

12.    Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.

13.    For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

6/20/2008 8:50 AM