{"id":22408,"date":"2022-07-14T22:00:28","date_gmt":"2022-07-15T05:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/deuteronomy_20_1-20-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-07-05T14:49:45","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T21:49:45","slug":"deuteronomy_21_1-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/deuteronomy_21_1-9\/","title":{"rendered":"When You Face Tragedies You Can’t Explain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deuteronomy 21:1-9 \u00a0 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Deuteronomy 21:1-9.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 21:1-9 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If a man is found slain, lying in a field in the land the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him,
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and lead her down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer’s neck.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The priests, the sons of Levi, shall step forward, for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and to decide all cases of dispute and assault.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley,
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, O\u00a0LORD, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent man.” And the bloodshed will be atoned for.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So you will purge from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the\u00a0LORD.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-9:\u00a0 Here Moses describes what to do when a slain human body is found and no one knows who caused his or her death. The town nearest to the dead body had to sacrifice an unworked heifer to atone for the bloodshed (v3-4). The elders of the town also had to wash their hands to symbolize how their town was not guilty of the bloodshed (v6-7).<\/p>\n

I believe there’s a powerful lesson the Holy Spirit wants us to learn from this.\u00a0 From time to time certain deaths and tragedies will take place where there is no clear explanation why. This passage shows that God cares for those who are nearest to that situation. If you have suffered a loss or tragedy that is hard to explain, God’s heart is for you.<\/p>\n

Just as God led the town in\u00a0Deuteronomy\u00a021\u00a0to restoration and healing through the sacrifice of a heifer, He wants to comfort, restore and heal you too. He has made provision for your healing and comfort through Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Like the heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke, during his lifetime on earth Jesus was never weighed down by sin or the guilt and shame of having sinned against God.<\/p>\n

Just as the heifer was broken and killed on behalf of the town, Jesus’ body was broken and killed for us.<\/p>\n

Just as the elders of the town washed their hands to distance themselves from any responsibility for the tragedy, Pontius Pilate, the governor over Jerusalem, washed his hands to distance himself from the situation (Matthew 27:24).<\/p>\n

But God is not removed from you and your situation when you experience unexplained tragedies.\u00a0 Rather, from\u00a0Deuteronomy\u00a021\u00a0and the way God later sent His Son Jesus, we can surmise that whenever unexplained tragedies hit near home, God invites us to look at the cross and says:<\/p>\n

“Give your pain to me
\nGive your questions to me
\nGive your shame to me
\nGive your sins to me
\nGive your fears to me
\nGive your regrets to me<\/p>\n

I’ll take them all on
\nI’ll come near to you
\nI’ll carry your burden
\nI’ll suffer in your place
\nI’ll die on your behalf
\nAll so that you can live
\nand move on in hope and freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thank You Lord that You are not removed from tragedies that we can’t explain. Rather Your heart goes out to those who are affected by them. Thank You for sending Jesus to be our restoration and comfort, and that by His wounds we can find healing.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Deuteronomy 21:1-9.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 21:1-9 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0If a man is found slain, lying in a field in the land the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him,
\n2\u00a0\u00a0your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns.
\n3\u00a0\u00a0Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke
\n4\u00a0\u00a0and lead her down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer’s neck.
\n5\u00a0\u00a0The priests, the sons of Levi, shall step forward, for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and to decide all cases of dispute and assault.
\n6\u00a0\u00a0Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley,
\n7\u00a0\u00a0and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done.
\n8\u00a0\u00a0Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, O\u00a0LORD, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent man.” And the bloodshed will be atoned for.
\n9\u00a0\u00a0So you will purge from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the\u00a0LORD.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-9:\u00a0 Here Moses describes what to do when a slain human body is found and no one knows who caused his or her death. The town nearest to the dead body had to sacrifice an unworked heifer to atone for the bloodshed (v3-4). The elders of the town also had to wash their hands to symbolize how their town was not guilty of the bloodshed (v6-7).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22410,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22408"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22411,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22408\/revisions\/22411"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}