Devotions from December 2022

Passage Read: Exodus 23-26 Meditation Verses: 23:1-3 God wants justice and righteousness. He does not condone mob justice, but only what is true. He does not condone a poor man's case no matter what, but wants justice. A poor man is not in the right…

Passage Read: Exodus 27-30 Meditation Verses: 30:12,16 The Lord allowed for a census of the people from time to time, but whenever they were counted, they had to pay a half-shekel, to make atonement for themselves. If they didn't pay the ransom for their lives,…

Passage Read: Exodus 31-34 Meditation Verse: 32:1 How easily they cast off the Lord and made a new god! They knew full well that their new god was nothing, because they had made it, yet they were willing to bow down and worship it! They…

Passage Read: Exodus 35-38 Meditation Verse: 36:2 Moses called every skilled person who was willing to help. God gives skill to many, but the willingness to help comes from us, with perhaps some prompting by the Spirit. God gives skill, but we need to train…

Passage Read: Exodus 39 - Leviticus 2 Meditation Verse: Leviticus 1:17 The burnt offerings are to be cut in pieces and burned on the altar, and that should be shocking, but it's not until the Lord mentions tearing the bird offerings open without completely severing…

Passage Read: Leviticus 3-6 Meditation Verse: 5:1 It is a sin to withhold testimony if someone has seen something or learned about some happening. It is not just a sin to give false testimony, it is sin to withhold testimony when you know something about…

Passage Read: Leviticus 7-10 Meditation Verses: 8:33-34 Ordination was the process by which Arron and his sons were set apart from the rest of the people to serve the Lord. They were to represent the Lord to the people, so they needed an extra degree…

Passage Read: Leviticus 11-14 Meditation Verses: 13:43-46 It is interesting that the priests are given responsibilities beyond sacrifices and spiritual things. The priests have medical duties, specifically to determine whether a member of the community has an infectious skin disease, or if clothing or homes…

Passage Read: Leviticus 15-18 Meditation Verses: 18:26-27 Neither native nor alien living among the Israelites are to perform any of these perverse deeds. Because of these sins, the land was defiled. Our sins affect our environment. The land is made unclean and sickened by our…

Passage Read: Leviticus 19-22 Meditation Verse: 22:9 The Lord says this multiple times in these few chapters, that He is the one who makes His people holy, therefore they are to do His commands and not defile themselves. Because God makes them holy, therefore they…

Passage Read: Leviticus 23-26 Meditation Verses: 26:40-42 The Lord has been very good to Israel, allowing them back into the land He promised to their forefathers, even though they do not all love the Lord or have repented of their sins. Did they pay for…

Passage Read: Leviticus 27 - Numbers 3 Meditation Verse: Numbers 3:38 Anyone who approached the sanctuary was to be put to death, only the sons of Aaron were allowed to come near to the Lord. This is what changed at the death of Jesus and…

Passage Read: Numbers 4-7 Meditation Verse: 7:89 This seems so matter-of-fact, that Moses heard the voice of the Lord from between the cherubim above the atonement cover. Moses spoke with the Lord face-to-face, almost. He spoke with the Lord as surely as I speak to…

Passage Read: Numbers 8-11 Meditation Verses: 9:22-23 Though the people lived in tents, I'm sure it was not so simple a matter to pack up and leave at a moment's notice. Today with our modern technology and only one or two nights' plan to camp,…

Passage Read: Numbers 12-15 Meditation Verses: 15:38-39 Tassels on the corner of garments was to be a reminder of all the commands of the Lord, that the people should obey them and not prostitute themselves by going after the lusts of their own hearts and…

Passage Read: Numbers 16-19 Meditation Verse: 17:13 It would be terrifying to see the Lord deal like this with His people today, to call them out for their sin and rebellion in so dramatic a fashion that men die in front of others. And the…

Passage Read: Numbers 20-23 Meditation Verses: 23:20-24 It is amazing to me that the Lord could be so frustrated by His people and yet say such things about them. He speaks to and through Balaam about His delight in and blessing on Israel, yet they…

Passage Read: Numbers 24-27 Meditation Verses: 25:1-2 These unbelieving women care nothing for their integrity or purity! They freely sleep with the Israelite men, with no apparent hesitation. Unbelievers have no sense of shame or self-respect. They are sent to invite the Israelite men to…

Passage Read: Numbers 28-31 Meditation Verse: 31:16 So Balaam departed and headed home, but apparently either didn't make it home or returned afterwards. He knew the Lord wanted to bless the Israelites, and he said he couldn't go beyond the commands of the Lord. But…

Passage Read: Numbers 32-35 Meditation Verse: 35:15 Death is a punishment, the ultimate human punishment for anyone who intentionally commits certain sins, especially murder. But the Lord makes provision for someone who accidentally kills his neighbor, without premeditation or hatred beforehand. Such a man is…

Passage Read: Numbers 36 - Deuteronomy 3 Meditation Verses: Deuteronomy 3:21-22 What God has done in the past is recorded for us, so that we will know His power and might, and have confidence in Him to take care of us as we go forward…

Passage Read: Deuteronomy 4-7 Meditation Verses: 5:28-29 Everything the people said was good, but the Lord knew what was really in their hearts. Forty days later they would be making new gods and worshiping them. What they said was good, but what they would become…

Passage Read: Deuteronomy 8-11 Meditation Verses: 10:12-16 Throughout Scripture, there is only one right response to the mercy and undeserved kindness of the Lord: humble submission to His commands, which were given for the people's own good. God's commands are not evil, nor are they…

Passage Read: Deuteronomy 12-15 Meditation Verses: 14:22-23 For agricultural communities, the tithe would be gathered annually, at the beginning of the harvest. How much food would that be? It could be a huge amount, depending on the size of the flocks and fields. But for…

Passage Read: Deuteronomy 16-19 Meditation Verse: 19:9 To love the Lord is to walk in His ways, which He has explained in this Law. John says the same thing in his first letter. To love God is to obey His commands, these commands about how…

Passage Read: Deuteronomy 20-23 Meditation Verse: 23:7 The Lord said that He loved Jacob but hated Esau, such that he would destroy their land and nation. But He did not allow the Israelites to hate them, and in fact made provision for their descendants to…

Passage Read: Deuteronomy 24-27 Meditation Verses: 25:5-9 The wife of a man who dies leaving no son is to become his advocate, ensuring that his line does not die out. The man's brother is supposed to marry her and raise up a son to carry…

Passage Read: Deuteronomy 28-31 Meditation Verse: 31:27 Moses knows how rebellious the Israelites have been, and he knows they will continue to be rebellious. If they have rebelled in his presence, how much more will they rebel in his absence. What a discouraging thing to…

Passage Read: Deuteronomy 32 - Joshua 1 Meditation Verses: Deuteronomy 34:10-12 There is no one in all the Old Testament who did the miraculous deeds that Moses did. No other prophet did as many or as mighty works as Moses. Yet, his deeds are all…

Passage Read: Joshua 2-5 Meditation Verse: 2:10 It's amazing that the only thing they've heard, or the only thing they remember of all they've heard about Israel, is the beginning and end of their forty year journey to Canaan: the crossing of the Red Sea…

Passage Read: Joshua 6-9 Meditation Verse: 7:7 So quickly Joshua goes from knowing the Lord had promised them this land and told them to go in (they crossed the Jordan in miraculous fashion!) to conviction that they had sinned against the Lord and He intended…