- …and they shall testify, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed. Accept atonement, O Lord, for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not set the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, so that their blood guilt be atoned for.’ Deuteronomy 21:7-8 – It’s like a kid not wanting to clean up a mess they didn’t make. Here though God isn’t focused on the blame of who made the mess, He just wants the mess cleaned so there can be peace. Even if it wasn’t our hands that brought the pain, we can still seek God’s forgiveness and healing over the situation. I think about that with all the unrest in our country or possibly the pain that is in some of our families. Maybe we had no hand in bringing the pain, but we can still come to God to ask for healing of it. Don’t live under the impression that if hurt and pain is around you but you had no hand it in that it’s not your problem. Thankfully Jesus didn’t live that way, let’s not either. Lean in, ask for God’s healing, and be ready to use what He’s given you to bring about some of the healing around you. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1316
- Deuteronomy 21 – Pastor Mac Daily DEVO When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God gives them into your hand and you take them captive, 11 and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire to take her to be your wife,12 and you bring her home to your house, she shall shave her head and pare her nails. 13 And she shall take off the clothes in which she was captured and shall remain in your house and lament her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. 14 But if you no longer delight in her, you shall let her go where she wants. But you shall not sell her for money, nor shall you treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her. Deuteronomy 21:10-14 – While I don’t fully understand God on every law He had put in place for the Israelites, I’m grateful He made such laws for His people. Like the ones here concerning females captives, at first glance to me it seems harsh and unloving, but there is wisdom and grace here. We must remember what the culture was in this time, especially when it came to war and the inhabitance of the lands nations were invading. People were slaughtered and women were often brutally abused, sometimes even kept back solely for that purpose for the soldiers. Here God forbids that sort of vile action from His people. He tells them if they see a woman they think is beautiful, they must wait an entire month before any moves can be made. Making actions of lust and passion off the table. They were to walk her through purification and she would remain in their house that whole month, giving time to know each other. While again I don’t fully understand or agree with this whole idea of female captives, I’m grateful we have a God who wouldn’t stand for such vileness from His people. I’m grateful He understands His laws and I’m glad He established what He did. While we may not understand, nor agree, with everything God says in His word, let’s remember it is His word and His is God, we’re not. Let’s seek to be faithful to our God in all things and trusting what He has put down in His scriptures is truly the best for us. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2446
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