Celebrating God's Generosity

Deuteronomy 26:1 When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, 2 you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. 3You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, "Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us." 4 When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God,5 you shall make this response before the Lord your God: "A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. 6 When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, 7 we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; 9 and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me." You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. 11 Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house. (NRSV)

God is the source of all good gifts. A simple, but powerful truth closely tied to that is that you can't out-give God. The passage for today is a decree to the people of God to remember what God has given to them. It was the gift of freedom from oppression and a land in which to reside and in which to celebrate that freedom from slavery. And, the writer says, as we remember we should return to God a gift symbolizing our gratitude and thankfulness to the Giver of all good. The instruction is simple; give to God the first and the best of what God has given to you. As you enter into the land and every time you remember God's goodness, celebrate in a gift back to God. The passage in verse five is a passage of remembrance of the story; from one "wandering Aramean" came who we are today. The days of prosperity in a foreign land ended with cries for freedom and prayers to God for liberty from this slavery, and God heard and saw their affliction. It was God's mighty power demonstrated in that freedom that is still at work in our lives.

God continues to be involved in and caring for our wellbeing. God has provided us with more than "milk and honey," which was a symbol of not only what was needed but a little extra, and from that we should return back to God in a spirit of thanksgiving. Count your blessings if you can; they're probably too numerous to number because God is that way. What have you given God?

PRAYER: Loving God, great is Your love and demonstrated in all that You have given to us. The greatest gift is the gift of Jesus, Your only begotten Son, for our freedom and liberty from the bonds of spiritual slavery to sin and death. May I be grateful and demonstrate that gratitude to You now and always; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!

Eradio Valverde

Thought for the Day I can't out-give God, nor am I expected to; but I can give Him my all!