Quote for the Day
“For the LORD your God detests anyone…who deals dishonestly.”
Today's Prayer
This week ask God to reveal to you others you can show His glory. As you move about each day seek God and His wisdom.
Deuteronomy 25:1-19
Deuteronomy 25:1-19 (NIV)1 When men have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges will decide the case, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty. 2 If the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall make him lie down and have him flogged in his presence with the number of lashes his crime deserves, 3 but he must not give him more than forty lashes. If he is flogged more than that, your brother will be degraded in your eyes. 4 Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain. 5 If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. 6 The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from . 7 However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in . He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.” 8 Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” 9 his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” 10 That man’s line shall be known in as The Family of the Unsandaled. 11 If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, 12 you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity. 13 Do not have two differing weights in your bag—one heavy, one light. 14 Do not have two differing measures in your house—one large, one small. 15 You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. 16 For the LORD your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly. 17 Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of . 18 When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. 19 When the LORD your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!
Message
This week we continue looking at the many rules God has given the Israelites. While some of the laws do not always seem to make sense to us, living in a traveling society of over one million people required some extensive rules and regulations. God knew this and understood the people whom He had created and blessed needed to be focused on Him as their Creator and Savior. He gave them practices and disciplines to worship and grow with Him, and now reminds them they also need to be focused on living and loving each other, just as we need to today. A basic principle of this is packed into verses 13 to 16. While God refers to not having different weights and measures, whether in business or at home, His focus is honesty. The Israelites dealt not only with each other but with many other nations. God wanted them to live lives that would give glory to Him in their daily activities. Honesty is one foundation we must have for people to trust us. God uses our lives to point to Him. Our individual lives become a way of others seeing God. People seeking God are looking for honest answers and the true way to salvation. This cannot be seen in people who cannot be trusted in the most basic terms of commerce or friendship. Person-to-person activities and interactions are how people judge honesty. God expects honesty from each one of us, so that He might be seen through us. How is your life this week? Have you been honest with all those with whom you have dealt? God desires that, and in doing so you bring glory to Him.