Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

A Daily Devotional by Kenton Cheek

18 March 2024

Reading From Deuteronomy 24-27

“When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.

The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws—that you will listen to him. And the Lord has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands. He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.”

–Deuteronomy 26:12, 16-19

     God gave His Word to His people because He loves us.  He calls us His “treasured possession…a people holy to the Lord.”  It amazes me what tender and merciful provisions He put into the Mosaic Law that would have made life so much better in Israel than in the surrounding nations in the harsh ancient world.  Yahweh built provisions into the lifestyle that His Law created for taking care of those who minister and for those in need.  Financial provision was to be made for the Levites, immigrants, orphans and widows. 

God wants everyone to be well taken care of.  Time and again throughout the Scriptures He calls His eternal family to be generous with each other and those in the world around us.  He wants us to show His love in practical ways. Jehovah Jireh usually does the world of provision through His people, giving them strength to work and softening their hearts to be generous.

“God, help me be obedient to Your Word.  May I be not only a hearer of Your Word but a doer of Your Word.  Empower me with Your Holy Spirit to put faith into action in caring for others.  Pour out Your blessings upon me so that I can share those blessings with people in need in my community and around the world.  Amen.”

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

–James 1:27