"And every kid will have matching sox that they can
keep!" Maurice announced.
Our little church had taken our kids to a competitive
event. We were told the "official"
uniform was a white t-shirt and
jeans. When we arrived in our jeans and
white t-shirts, we were stunned and embarrassed. Every other team had matching shirts and
shorts.
On the ride home, the adults planned for the next
competition. We had our eyes opened and
we were not going to be innocent again.
Our kids would compete looking like a real team. We told ourselves they would compete better
when they looked better. Although, we took second place!
I've been meditating on Deuteronomy 27: 9-26 for a long
time. If you follow my blog posts you
will note it has been three months. I
have been busy enjoying Life by becoming
a grandmother and preparing gifts for Christmas while concerned that I'm
nearing the end of Deuteronomy and what will I study next? It is so easy to slip into distraction and
lose focus on the important tasks. So
I'm back with "another beginning"!
In Deuteronomy 27 Moses tells the people to be silent and
listen. If they are going to own the
Promised Land they will need to live and act like God's people. Half of the tribes stand on Mount Gerizim to
repeat the blessings and half the tribes stand on Mount Ebal to repeat the
curses. All the people say
"Amen" after each curse.
As I rewrote each curse in my journal, I noticed the common
thread of the innocents being victimized.
The victims of the "do nots"
were blind, unaware and powerless. This
reminded me of Maurice and the other adults protecting our innocent little kids
from future embarrassment.
I also noted that the curses were about very intimate
matters. Most of them dealt with sexual
immorality in very specific relationships.
God wanted to impress upon the Israelites the importance of
these commandments, these "do nots", so the people were instructed to
say "Amen" (or in my own translation "so be it" or "I
do") after each one.
These verses convince me that the "i's have it!"
Don't let idols distract me so I lose focus on
following God into my Promised Land.
Don't take advantage of the innocent so I can
prosper, even when I may be the only one who will know, God will know.
Don't be impure in the intimate matters in my life.
Maybe I am the only one who knows but God does know my heart.
The "do nots" are really important, every
single one of them. It made me think of
initialing every single line in a contract, time consuming as it would be I
would read every line and decide I accepted each line.
Hallelujah, we have such a loving and forgiving God. Even though I am again impressed with
God's expectations for my life, including the "do nots", I can come
back to Him daily and admit my distraction and loss of His priority in my life
and begin again. I do want to follow God into the Promised Land He has
destined for me.
Here I begin again, "Another Beginning"!
