Confession of God's Goodness (Deut. 26:1-11)

5/27/2009 9:30 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                              Focus:   Confession of God’s goodness

 

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Deuteronomy 26:1-11

 

            Message of the verses:    “1 ¶  "Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, and you possess it and live in it, 2  that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which you bring in from your land that the LORD your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His name. 3  "You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare this day to the LORD my God that I have entered the land which the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’ 4  "Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God. 5  "You shall answer and say before the LORD your God, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; but there he became a great, mighty and populous nation. 6  ‘And the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. 7  ‘Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression; 8  and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and wonders; 9  and He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10  ‘Now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground which You, O LORD have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God; 11  and you and the Levite and the alien who is among you shall rejoice in all the good which the LORD your God has given you and your household.”

            In writing on this chapter Warren Wiersbe says that the things that are contained in these verses speak of how a believer is to live in order to be a good citizen in the country that God has placed them to live.  He goes one to say the following:  “The three public confessions recorded in this chapter help us to understand what kind of citizens we ought to be as the followers of Jesus Christ,” and the first confession is of God’s goodness.

            It is well noted that this confession is not the same as the celebration of the firstfruits ceremony that was explained in other earlier portions of Scripture such as Numbers 15:18-20.  This ceremony was to be done when the children of Israel went into the Promised Land and were given from the Lord the fruits of the land through growing them, and then they were to take these fruits to the tabernacle and say the things that are written in this passage.  They were not only to say them, but they were to believe and live by them as they praised the Lord for His goodness to them, keeping the promises that He had made to their fathers earlier.

            The things that were to be spoken of by the person given this offering are written in the verses above from verses three until the middle of verse ten and this is a wonderful ceremony that is given before the Lord.  One of the things that Dr. Wiersbe brings up that goes along with this ceremony is stewardship and the stewardship of not only believers then but believers now.  He writes that stewardship is not giving 10% to the Lord and then doing what ever the believer wants with the rest of their funds.  “True stewardship means that we give God what belongs to Him as an acknowledgement that all that we have is His.  We then use all that is left wisely for His glory.  To bring the Lord 10% and then waste the 90% that remains is not stewardship.  It’s foolishness.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I believe that one of the fundamental things of giving to the Lord is how the rest of the things that are done with the funds and resources that God has given to me is a large portion of what giving is all about.  By giving at least 10% to the Lord is saying to the Lord that everything that I have is His and I want to glorify the Lord with all that He has entrusted me with.  By just giving 10% to the Lord in order to be blessed by Him and then do what I want with the rest of it is not stewardship, but it is foolishness as Warren Wiersbe writes, but it is also something like hedging a bet where one believes that giving is not more that a good luck charm.  I can say that this has been a pattern of mine in the past, but not so much as when I became a true believer although I do realize that my giving to the Lord has not always been done with entirely the right motives, especially because of the way that I have handled the rest of the things the Lord has entrusted me with.  This is something that is needed to be confessed to the Lord, for all that I have is His as I am blessed to be a steward of the Lord.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. I want to say again that everything that I have is the Lord’s and that because of this I want to do with the things that He has entrusted to me, things that will bring honor and glory to Him.
2. Trust the Lord to continue to teach me contentment and for me to learn contentment.
3. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
4. Keep a short list with the Lord.
5. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.

 

Memory verses for the week:                                              1 John 2:15-17

 

15.    Do not love the world nor the things that are in the world.  If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him.  16.

16.    For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

17.    The world is passing away and, and also its lust; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

 

5/27/2009 11:10 AM