OT DAY 281 - God Protects Those without Power (Please click here for English podcast)

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http://www.breakbuild.blogspot.ca/

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Silence

1.   Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence

2.   Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.

Praise and Thanksgiving

1.   Think through your day, all the times that made you smile

2.   Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people

3.   Open your heart to praise the Lord

        
             Bless the Lord, O my soul,
                and all that is within me,
               bless his holy name!

                
                          Psalm 103:1

Confession and Repentance

1.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in you:

     “Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2.  Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

     "Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gift to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

The Word (Deuteronomy 21:10-14)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+21&version=ESV


10 “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

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

My Listening

      This world has a culture for thousands of years that those who have power rule those without power and treat them badly. This passage shows us God commands His people to have a different culture. A culture to protect those without power. What has that to do with us? 

Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us: 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldingay) :

    

     The rule about the treatment of a woman captive starts realistically…of how things are and seeks to limit their negative consequences. It takes for granted the way fighters end up marrying women from the people they fought against and seeks to protect the women from the worst consequences of this fact. When a man marries such a woman, he may be inclined to treat her as less than a real wife. The rule requires that this shall not happen. If he decides he made a mistake, he cannot just treat her as if she is a foreign slave that he bought. She has the same right to a proper divorce as any other woman. Of course ideally you shouldn't be divorcing, but such things happen, and in these circumstances, the person without any power in the situation needs protecting. 

John Goldingay. Numbers & Deuteronomy for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p.164.

     God's command is unusual because women in a defeated countries are mostly being raped, killed or badly treated. God protects them. What can you learn from that? Do you intentionally or unintentionally use your power to badly treat those powerless? 

Dear Lord Jesus, 
Help us to be humble and follow your lead to protect those without power.  In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Reflect on these questions:
1. Do you think God's command in today's passage is very special? Do you think it would happen in other people?

2. Do you intentionally or unintentionally use your power to badly treat those powerless? What has today's passage to do with you?

Praise and Thanksgiving

Let's give thanks for God with us. Let us praise Him:

10,000 Reasons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E

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Daily Devotion on Fire: http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/

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