- Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. Deuteronomy 16:16-17 – We see in these verses that three separate times a year the men of Israel were to travel to wherever the Temple was to offer gifts unto the Lord. That certainly seems like a lot God is asking from them, but do you see the exact amounts they were to give? No, me neither, and the reason we don’t see it is because God didn’t specify an amount that must be given. God promised to bless them abundantly and out of that abundance they were to give some back to God. The giver had the freedom to choose the amount, but it was always out of the abundance that God had already given them. Meaning God never was asking them to give what they didn’t have. In our story God is asking us to give back to Him. To give Him our time, our talents, and our treasures. Yet remember, just like with these Israelites, God isn’t asking us to give Him something He didn’t first give us in abundance. He’s given us 168 hours in a week and He’s asking we give a couple back to Him on Sunday for His worship. He’s given us 100% of event cent we have. Every gifting and talent we possess came from Him. What God is asking from us isn’t something we don’t have, but out of the abundance He already blessed us with. Are we willing them to return to Him what He has given to us so freely? If not, be willing to examine your heart to see why something we possess is off limits to the God who gave His Son for us. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac- Daily DEVO 3455
- You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. Deuteronomy 16:3 – They are to remember the day they came out of Egypt, the day they were rescued. God’s not asking them here to remember the 430 years of slavery their people went through and all the struggle that they endured during that time. What God wanted them to remember is that day when they walked out of Egypt, completely free. While it’s healthy to remember where we’ve been, and even God tells them to remember their time in Egypt later on, let’s focus today on the day we walked out of slavery completely free. Maybe we’re taking about the day you placed your trust in Jesus and no longer were a slave to sin. Or the day you stopped an addiction. Or the day you let go of the abusive relationship. Remember the days God set you free. Remember how He helped you let go. Let’s rejoice today that we are no longer slaves to those things all due to Jesus. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1311
- Deuteronomy 16 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the Lord your God that you shall make. And you shall not set up a pillar, which the Lord your God hates. Deuteronomy 16:21-22 – God had already established for the Israelites the command of worshipping no other gods but Himself. They had experienced the golden calf, they had witnessed what happens when people worship idols, yet God still reminds them of this important command. Here he even tells them to not set up trees or pillars by the places where God will be worshiped. As we discover later in scripture, Israel often continued to still “worship” God, but chose to worship idols as well. They would set up places of idol worship right next to the places of Godly worship. Doing exactly what God made clear to them not to do. Let’s be willing to discover the lead of God in scripture for us and actually follow what it says. We may think the actions of Israel foolish by worshipping other gods when God said not to, yet it’s even more foolish for us today who possess the entirety of scripture to still not follow God’s word. Take hold of the blessing of having God’s word in your life by learning what it says and seeking to do it faithfully. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2441
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