Today’s
Scripture Reading (December 21, 2018): Deuteronomy 28
A job website insists that we
don’t really work for some corporate machine or an unconcerned boss. We work
for ourselves. We give our time to our employers in exchange for money and time
so that we can make the best decisions for our family. The advertisement for
the website feeds into a basic desire that rises from deep within us.
Ultimately, we want to be in control of our future. We want to work in a space
where we are treated as people with something important to offer those who have
hired us, and not as servants being instructed to dance to the whims of those
higher up in the chain of command. We all want to be the boss, even if it is
just over the task that we are performing.
The end of the dream is that we will somehow find financial independence,
which is the idea that our investments will provide all of the income that we
need. We can lose our jobs, or the government can eliminate our pension
payments, and we will still be okay because
we are the ones who are in control of our lives.
This is also the promise of God to Israel if they will obey his commands.
Israel has the possibility of being leaders in the world. And the promise of
economic success offered in verse twelve, along with the command for the nation
to be lenders and not borrowers, is tied tightly to this idea that they can be
the influencers of the nations and not
the followers; or in the words of Moses, Israel is to function as the heads and
not the tails.
In good times, this was exactly what happened. The obedience of David
resulted in the Queen of Sheba coming to David’s son Solomon to view the
success of this small Middle East nation, and she credits the God of Israel for
their success. During this time of Israel’s history, following the reign of her
favorite Son, Israel’s obedience made them major influencers in this area of
the world. They enjoyed both economic and political success. But the further
that they got from the reign of David, we see that influence begin to lessen, most
likely as a direct result of the country’s reduced reliance on God. This
reduction in influence reached its lowest point when they were eventually taken into captivity, the
Northern Kingdom by Assyria, and Judah by Babylon. Since then, the national
dream has always been that Israel would be able to reclaim the kind of influence
that they exercised following the reign of David.
As contemporary nations, we sometimes need to be reminded that the extent
of our influence goes along with our willingness to follow a moral standing.
Even for those who reject the idea of God, there is historical evidence that
things go best for us when we speak truth to power in the world and stand up
for the rights of the weak and the stranger, things that Israel was commanded
to do. And when we do these things, we have the potential to be influencers in
the world. And according to Moses, we will be on top, and not on the bottom.
Tomorrow’s Scripture
Reading: Deuteronomy 29
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