Day 78: Safe Towns

Matthew 26:1-25; Numbers 35-36; Job 3

Judas traded the glory of heaven and the love of his Savior for a little bit of material wealth.  The temptation to obtain and have lots of stuff is always there.  The American culture demands that we keep collecting stuff.  Even if we use stuff to help the poor, it is not as good as worshiping the Lord and serving him.  Are we putting anything above God?  I pray that the Lord will reveal it to us so that we can give it away or use it to worship him.

God is a God of justice but also of protection.  He believes that those who do wrong will receive what they are due.  Murder is a big deal and must be punished.  However, humans often want to take revenge for wrongs done against us, but God wants to offer protection.  That was the purpose of the Safe Towns.  If someone dies accidentally—which does happen—The Lord want to provide a level of justice and protection.  That could be really hard for the victim’s family, as the scripture indicates.  They may still want revenge even though it was an accident.  The point if the rule against murder is because God values life.  It seems a little contradictory because in scripture God also says that we are here only for a little while and gone before we know it, so why would the time here on earth really matter.  But sinning against a person, doing something terrible to one of our fellow humans, hurts them and God.  Murder is very serious, but we can be guilty of other sins that are just as serious:  gossip, slander, anger, hatred.  Those things also are dangerous.  May the Lord help to keep us pure in body and spirit.

I cannot imagine being in Job’s shoes.  How incredibly painful his life had become.  I am so thankful that God has given me a blessed life.  I have not shared with Job’s pain.  But, there is still a lot of life left for me (I assume), and there will be struggles.  I pray that in those times I remember that Job hurt and survived.