Welcome to our COME AS A CHILD Bible Study. The IN SEASON Lifestyle blog publishes this study every Thursday. We are walking through the Bible word-by-word and page-by-page. As of this week we have journeyed all the way to the Book of Deuteronomy.
Today we come to a portion of Deuteronomy in Chapter 25; verses 13 through 16:
Do not have two differing weights in your bag – one heavy, one light. Do not have two differing measures in your house – one large, one small. You must have accurate and honest weight and measures, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.
God is simply telling his people to be honest and to deal truthfully with one another.
SHARE HONESTY WITH ONE ANOTHER
Funny how this reminds me of my grocery store.
Over the past few month I have been enjoying some great meal-kits which the meat-market makes up at one of my favorite grocery shops. Their portions have always been so fresh, so well proportioned to the needs of an individual eating a quick and easy meal. There have always been plenty of sides to go with the main dish; and I’ve prepared these and loved how satisfying they are for the economics of my budget.
However; after a while of being spoiled by them; these great portions of meat began to become smaller and smaller; then I noticed the vegetables were not quite as fresh and the potatoes and rice packets were growing smaller each time I bought them. Sometimes the sauces or the spices got left out.
The prices had not gone down one penny; but the quality of the meals had decreased each time I bought them.
What had been fine for a couple of two to prepare for a quick and easy dinner now became only enough for one.
The meals were no longer economical for us; so my great grocery discovery was no longer a purchase that made sense for me to purchase.
In this little bit of greediness, the grocer I had been so loyal to lost a steady well-paying customer who had been completely satisfied with her purchases.
Before these developments happened; I had recommended these to all of my friends; sending many customers to the store that would have never visited before.
Now I could no longer honestly recommend them.
How sad for both of us!
WHO WILL COME AND RISE ABOVE THE MEDIOCRITY?
This seems to happen in many different ways now, all over the world.
Quality and customer service have gone by the wayside and products show us less and less value for our money.
Of course it is easy to do when everyone every where is blaming everything on the ever decreasing state-of-our- country, and cutting corners and taking short cuts due to the pandemic situations.
How sad that no one wants to make the effort to rise above the problems and deliver true value.
Skimping on a product is always a lose/lose proposition; both for the retailer and the customer. I don’t think Harvard is teaching this theory anymore though. The popular emphasis now is constantly on the view that less is more. That is not always the case though!
USING PROPER WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
Back in those days of the birth of Israel as a new nation, coins were weighed to determine their value. Also produce and grain was sold by weight and/or instruments that measured grain. It was known that some people would use weights and measures that cheated the public and these gave a false impression of being accurate.
Remember that scene from the New Testament when Jesus was turning over the tables of the money changers? He hated that good honest people were being cheated in the name of God.
Of course, we are mostly talking about marketing and trade here; as well as other things.
The people needed to be honest and straight forward in this new nation. No one needed to be deceived or cheated or lied to.
Unfortunately though; this type of deception has been common to all generations of people throughout the stages of the history of mankind. There is always someone who wants to obtain something for nothing. Everyone is always looking for a free ride. They think they are being wise with something that they tricked people into paying them by not being truthful about the details. Some people just delight in such a deception.
HONESTY AND TRUTH ARE HARD TO FIND TODAY
Looking at our modern world; this same concept seems to be rampant and spreading and growing more and more each day.
We certainly can no longer say that we are living up to the standards that God laid out for Israel’s formation.
Elections get stolen by dishonest ballots at the polls; or deceiving practices that transpire before elections.
Bills are passed by legislation naming them one thing; but they are actually something else; something that will line the pocket of dishonest politicians.
Government overreach collects so much tax that the average citizen cannot afford to do much of anything for themselves anymore.
Schools are pushing policies and directing teachers to teach things that the parents do not approve; and most of the time this is unknown to the public. Children’s minds are being twisted to believe lies and deceptions.
Every crisis that happens is being used as a way for certain people to prosper from the misfortune of others.
It all starts with a little dishonesty here and a little dishonesty there.
Such a little bit won’t hurt anyone; right?
But; then it grows and grows and people become greedier and greedier until the whole nation that they live in is corrupted and rotten to the core.
GOD’S LAWS SHOULD NOT BE TWISTED
These are the things that God despises and did not want to see happen to His beloved Israel. So; He gave them these scriptures through Moses; and told them the best ways to live them out.
Since that time, all of mankind has known what is right and what is good; but not all nations have clung to such convictions for keeping their people honest.
Look around you and see the tragedy of all of the nations of the earth.
Surely; this must break God’s heart.
EVERY DAY WE ARE BREAKING THE HEART OF GOD
Governments constantly lie to the people who make their jobs possible.
The gullible fall right into line and are cheated and abused.
A little cheating here and there; a few deceptions; some lies to help things to happen, and all of a sudden; we find ourselves living in a totally immoral, increasingly totalitarian society.
It all starts by disobeying God’s directions to be honest in all of our dealings with our fellowman.
Now our country suffers from the constant use and abuse of identity politics; where everyone thinks as a group and all agree with one another no matter what.
No one is considering whether or not the group is true, or beneficial to the rest of the world, or kind or helpful, or right; they just agree to be one voice; regardless of the tragic results.
This isn’t scriptural.
It isn’t the way that God showed Israel to model living life out as a holy nation.
CALLING EVIL GOOD AND GOOD EVIL
To say that wrong is right; and right is wrong is the same as using false measurements in your public dealings. It is misleading and the information is not correct. The results are hopelessness and chaotic circumstances. Truth and falsehood seem to be interchangeable by society now, and we all walk around in a dense fog of propaganda and deception.
This isn’t how God wants His people to live their lives!
God’s way is full of freedom and deliverance.
His pathways bring kindness, love, mercy and forgiveness.
Tyranny isn’t tolerated in The Kingdom of Heaven. Just ask a certain fallen angel who was once named Lucifer; it must have been a very long fall from the Cherubim in Heaven to the pits of Hell; but Satan keeps using the same old tactics of those who are constantly untruthful and dishonest toward their fellowman.
Some will never change.
Fortunately for us; Christ living in our hearts changes many!
GOD WILL GIVE US A NEW NAME
In the pages of the Old Testament God was constantly changing the names of people in order to reflect their new found destinies and purposes for His Kingdom.
Some days I want to go through the country changing the names of everyone I see; just to let them know that change is still possible with God!
Christians never lose their hope; much unlike those who live in lies and deception.
Without hope; there can be no joy.
An example of a good destiny gone wrong would be the changing of Lucifer to Satan; but another opposite of that would be when God changed the names of Abram and Sari to Abraham and Sarah.
This happened when they went from being old and childless to becoming the founders of a new and holy nation.
Theirs was a nation with as many people as the stars of the sky and the sands of the desert.
It took living honestly before God to become fruitful.
Because of their obedience and honesty; they become blessed in every way.
TRUTH ALWAYS WINS
If we accept the destiny that God has for all of us; and if we begin to live into that pathway of honesty and righteousness; there can be no avenues of dishonesty and deception in our lives.
Truth is important.
Knowing your identity and who you truly belong to is essential to moving ahead and progressing in a truly beneficial way; a way that will bless all of the generations to come, and create peace and good-will on this earth.
No vision of Utopia can ever evolve from lies; no matter how many people want to believe those lies and stand together in believing so much untruth.
Reality eventually arrives and the truth is always revealed in the end.
Only honesty and truth can bring a nation to greatness.
These are the only two qualities that help its people to take the road to success and real prosperity under God. I refer to the priceless kind of prosperity that money can’t buy; the joys that last an eternity and the miracles that every overcomer experiences when they persevere under God’s direction.
THE SECRET OF PERFECT GOVERNMENT
Way back thousands of years ago, God gave Israel the secret key to forming the perfect government. He told them that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness begins with a government that is honest and deals fairly with its people.
America and other nations of the earth; take note.
Fall is quickly approaching and we are coming into the days of God’s calendar when double portions of blessing will be poured out. Whatever you experienced in the days of the spring rains will be multiplied and doubled in the time of the later rains. It is an old annually repeated pattern of Our Great God which a few of us have seen working from the days of the Old Testament right up into today’s world.
God never changes His ways.
Be honest and fair and wait upon those blessings.
God always keeps His promises; even in times of trial and uncertainty of the nations.
If you turn to Him; He will pour out new blessings of abundance. He will restore the years that the locust have eaten. Our Great God will heal our nation; if we fast and pray and become obedient to following His best ways to live.
It all starts with being honest with God and honest with ourselves.