A Generous People (Deu. 14:22-29)

5/7/2009 8:48 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  A generous people

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference: Deuteronomy 14:22-29

 

            Message of the verses:  “22 ¶  "You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year. 23  "You shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always. 24  "If the distance is so great for you that you are not able to bring the tithe, since the place where the LORD your God chooses to set His name is too far away from you when the LORD your God blesses you, 25  then you shall exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses. 26  "You may spend the money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household. 27  "Also you shall not neglect the Levite who is in your town, for he has no portion or inheritance among you. 28  "At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your town. 29  "The Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.”

            Dr. Wiersbe points out that this is the second time in this book that Moses is telling the children of Israel that they are to bring their tithes to the Lord, and that Paul had reminded the Corinthians that they were to get an offering ready for the work of the Lord two times.  As believers it is easy to neglect the work of the Lord especially when things are going well in our lives for that it the time when we think that we are doing it all by ourselves, and this is disastrously wrong for James writes that every good gift and every perfect gift comes from the Lord.  “David said, everything we give to God first comes from His hand and it all belongs to Him (1Chron. 29:16).  When we cease to fear God and fail to appreciate His bountiful provision, we become proud and start to take His blessings for granted.  Then the Lord has to discipline us to remind us that He is the Giver of every gift.”  This is a quote from Warren Wiersbe’s book on Deuteronomy, “Be Equipped.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The statement that I quoted in the first part of this SD is a statement that I have thought about for some time and even though I did not see it in writing I had it in my heart to do some things that I believe that the Lord has wanted me to do and that is to give more money to Todd and Cindy as they need it in order to pay some kind of tax that the government of Indonesia is forcing them to pay.  I did not do it and when I began to work on a small problem on our toilet it all fell apart and I had to spend more money on it than was truly necessary.  I truly believe that this was the Lord reminding me of my promise to do more for Todd and Cindy.  I plan to take care of that this morning along with another thing that I need to do.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today: 

 

1. Take care of the money that I want to give to Todd and Cindy today.
2. Take care of the password on the cable TV.
3. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
4. Be filled with the Spirit.
5. Learn to be content.

 

5/7/2009 9:20 AM