Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Deuteronomy 14:1-21.  Let’s go!

Deuteronomy 14:1-2 (NIV)
1  You are the children of the LORD your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead,
2  for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.

On verses 1-2:  In Canaanite culture, when a person died, their family would mutilate themselves out of grief and hopelessness, cutting themselves and shaving the fronts of their heads.  Moses told the Israelites that they do not need to grieve this way because “you are the children of the Lord your God” (v1), chosen to be “His treasured possession” (v2). In other words, because the Israelites could have confidence that those who trust in Him will be with Him in eternity, they could grieve with hope.  Similarly, as Christians we are God’s treasured possession.  When a Christian friend dies, we do not need to grieve hopelessly because we have assurance that our friend is now in heaven with God, happier and healthier than they’ve ever been.  Instead of mourning hopelessly, we can grieve with hope, celebrating the fact that through faith in Jesus Christ that person who died has not left home, but gone home.
 

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Deuteronomy 12:15-32.  Let’s go!

Deuteronomy 12:15-16 (NIV)
15  Nevertheless, you may slaughter your animals in any of your towns and eat as much of the meat as you want, as if it were gazelle or deer, according to the blessing the LORD your God gives you. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it.
16  But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.
 
On verses 15-16:  Why were the Israelites prohibited from eating blood?  For more on this see the section below called “On verses 20-27”.
 
Deuteronomy 12:17-19 (NIV)
17  You must not eat in your own towns the tithe of your grain and new wine and oil, or the firstborn of your herds and flocks, or whatever you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts.
18  Instead, you are to eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God will choose–you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites from your towns–and you are to rejoice before the LORD your God in everything you put your hand to.
19  Be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Deuteronomy 10:12-22.  Let’s go!

Deuteronomy 10:12-13 (NIV)
12  And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
13  and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
 
On verses 12-13:  When you love someone, naturally you want to give all of yourself to that person, and you desire for that person to give all of themselves to you.  That’s why we get pop standards like, “All of me, why not take all of me?  Can’t you see, I’m no good without you”.  That’s why John Legend sings, “Give your all to me, I’ll give my all to you.”  That’s why in Phantom of the Opera, Christine and her lover sing to each other, “Love me…That’s all I ask of you.” 
 
The same goes for God.  Because God loves us, He wants to give all of Himself to us, and in return He wants us to give all of ourselves to Him.  That’s why verse 10 says, “what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul”.  God’s call to give your all is rooted in love.

Hi GAMErs!

There are a number of good lessons we can learn from today’s passage, Deuteronomy 11:8-21.  Let’s go!

Deuteronomy 11:8-9 (NIV)
8  Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,
9  and so that you may live long in the land that the LORD swore to your forefathers to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.
 
On verses 8-9:  Moses tells this current generation of Israelites to observe all of God’s commands so that they may have strength to “take over the land” God has for them (v8) and also strength to “live long in the land” that they take over (v9). 
 
Likewise, as followers of Jesus, when we obey God’s commands, it has a strengthening effect on our lives.  Observing God’s commands fills my life with peace, joy and satisfaction. It positions me to receive God’s blessings. It strengthens my faith and my capacity to love God.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Deuteronomy 10:1-11.  Let’s go!

Deuteronomy 10:1-11 (NIV)
1  At that time the LORD said to me, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden chest.
2  I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the chest.”
3  So I made the ark out of acacia wood and chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands.
4  The LORD wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments he had proclaimed to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly. And the LORD gave them to me.

On verses 1-11:  When I read these verses what strikes me is God’s persistence.  When the Israelites (spiritually) and Moses (literally/physically) broke God’s ten commandments, God didn’t give up.  Instead God persisted and gave Moses and the Israelites two new tablets containing those same ten commandments.  It’s like God was giving them a fresh start.

When the Israelites angered God with their sin such that God did not want to bring them into promised land anymore, God still persisted and decided to lead them there anyway.