OT DAY 286 - Don't Mess Up Things from God's Different Categories (Please click here for English podcast)

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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

        
             The Lord is merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

               
                                    Psalm 103:8

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 22:5-12)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy 22&version=ESV

5 “A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.

6 “If you come across a bird's nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. 7 You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long.

8 “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.

9 “You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited, the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. 10 You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. 11 You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together.

12 “You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself.

                   Deuteronomy 22:5-12

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

      Today's passage seems weird and not practical to this modern world. Girls wear pants and sometimes men wear skirts, at least in Scotland tradition. So, what has this passage to do with us? 

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

    

     Israelites were not to mix things that didn't belong together. This would have some humane benefits; putting an ox and a donkey together could be uncomfortable, at least for the donkey. This consideration might also underlie the ban on taking a mother bird (for sacrifice?) and also her chicks and eggs…As was the case in Deuteronomy 14, a possible overarching principle is that people should live in light of the way God created the world. God made things different from one another and fitted them into categories, as Genesis 1 emphasizes. Ignoring that may mean forfeiting your crop.   

John Goldingay. Numbers & Deuteronomy for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p.166-167.

      I think it is important for us to know what does that mean by messing up God's categories. How about a man wearing everything just like a woman?  A woman wearing everything just like a man? Same sex marriage?… Well, you need to figure that out before the situation become worse and worse. Without a good relationship with God, I don't think we can be able to figure that out!

Dear Lord Jesus, 
Help us to enjoy our daily being together with you so that we can figure out what do you mean by not mixing up things from different categories. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Reflect on these questions:
1. Have you got new insight from todays's message?

2. How can you be able to discern God's will on this matter so that you won't mess up things from God's different categories?

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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