Day 63 (Saturday) - Deuteronomy 27:11-28:68

God always speaks in blessing and curse. There is a balance in his work with the people. If they follow him they are blessed and the blessing is really good. But if the disobey, they will discover curse and the curse is much more than the absence of blessing, it’s exile. I live in blessings and curses. I’m not so naive to think that curses don’t still affect us. I am cursed every time I disobey and choose my way of doing something. But the flip side is better. I experience blessings when I obey. I need to choose blessing more often.

Day 62 (Friday) - Deuteronomy 23:15-27:10

Here we have some great verses relating to justice. God commands his people to care for those that are poor or abandoned (widows and orphans). When you had a crop you were to leave some for those that “don’t have” could pick and eat. There was even a special tithe that would go to the under resourced in the community. Now I don’t mean to get overly political here but it really is too bad that we have a government structure that has taken away our personal responsibility to do justice and charity and made it a tax. It’s harder to help people. What happened to separation of church and state? Or I guess I’d have to ask what happened to the church that the government had to step in?

Day 61 (Thursday) - Deuteronomy 20:1-23:14

Did you catch the difference between types of wars God said he would lead the people through? Distant towns get better treatment but nations living in the Promised Land get totally destroyed. The reason is the danger of the false Gods and religions. God wants to protect his people from the false religions because they are attractive and will lure the people away from God. I wonder what that means for us today. What is luring us away from worship of God? As I watch the news and read stories about the suffering and difficulties America faces, I wonder what god we are worshiping. It seems to have lured us away from the true God.

Day 60 (Wednesday) - Deuteronomy 16:9-19:21

Honestly I’m perplexed by the text relating to electing a king. God is clear that he is their God. Moses states that because they see that other nations have a king, they may want one to rule over them. The additions of kings will not be good for Israel and they will suffer as a result. They will replace God as king and elect a man. I feel Moses should have said no kings, but he opened the door for them. Do you think God wanted them to have a king?

Day 59 (Tuesday) - Deuteronomy 13:1-16:8

I find it interesting how much debate there is over the tithe. Over and over again, God states that the people were to being 10% to him before they spend on anything else. I truly believe the reason for the debate is because people are looking to do less, not looking for a way to be faithful. Preachers and churches have very little credibility because they want people to obey, only because they want more funds. Many times those funds have little to do with what God wants the church to do. The skinny is that the Bible teaches we are to give our first 10% (that’s off the amount prior to uncle Sam). If we want to give more we can. If we want to give to other things, that’s fine, but the first 10% goes to the church. It’s tough to argue with when you read the Scriptures. Sorry for the post today.

Day 58 (Monday) - Deuteronomy 9:22-12:32

Deuteronomy 10:18-20 is about as clear as we have seen or Jesus’ command to love God and love others. Early on, God demonstrates that he cares for those outside of the nation of Israel. It’s important to remember this as more people and more nations will be slaughtered. I don’t claim to know why God does what he does, but I do know that he will receive anyone who chooses him. It reminds me of the debate over heaven and hell. Some people choose to believe there is no hell and others say they don’t believe a God of love would create a hell. All I have to say is, “Have read the Old Testament?”

Day 57 (Sunday) - Deuteronomy 6:16-9:21

God says to trust him even though it seems absurd. No matter how powerful the opposition, the people were to trust God and go into battle. Not only were they to battle, but also they were not to show mercy to the nations God handed over to them. I can see where some people get a Jihad mentality, thinking they have the right to bomb abortion clinics or become a warrior for God. It’s important that we don’t miss the difference between God clearing the land and our personal agendas. God never needed the peoples help, he needed them to be obedient.