JUNE 15, 2023 Deuteronomy 27:5-6 And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them. You shall build with whole stones the altar of the Lord your God, and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. As was mentioned in the previous devotion, the entirety of the Torah […]
JUNE 14, 2023 Deuteronomy 27:2-3 And it shall be, on the day when you cross over the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, that you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and whitewash them with lime. You shall write on them all the words of this law. From the beginning of their presence […]
JUNE 13, 2023 Deuteronomy 26:18-19 The Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has […]
JUNE 12, 2023 Deuteronomy 26:11 So, you shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you and your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you. Have you ever wondered why Paul felt it necessary to say that God loves a “cheerful giver”? In other words, it seems self-evident that a loving […]
JUNE 11, 2023 Deuteronomy 26:8 So, the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. In keeping with the theme developed in the previous devotions, in this verse Moses reminds us of what God did that allowed His people to stand before the LORD […]
JUNE 10, 2023 Deuteronomy 26:5 And you shall say before the Lord your God: “My father was a Syrian, about to perish, and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous.” As I mentioned in the previous devotion, some translations render this verse to say, “My father was a wandering Aramean.” The […]
JUNE 9, 2023 Deuteronomy 26:5 And you shall say before the Lord your God: “My father was a Syrian, about to perish, and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous.” In the previous devotion we highlighted the fact that our Heavenly Father keeps His promises to His people, even though, sometimes […]
The spies returned from Canaan with a giant cluster of grapes. The grapes should have encouraged the Israelites. The land was indeed a good land full of bounty, just as God had promised. The ten spies, however, interpreted the giant grapes differently. They used them as evidence that the land was inhabited by unconquerable giants. “What would you expect from the vineyards of giants?” Isn't it strange how two people can look at the same thing—such as a cluster of grapes—and come to opposite conclusions? To Joshua and Caleb, giant grapes were a good thing. To the other spies, the giant grapes were a sign of despair.
God said He heard the grumbling and the complaints of the children of Israel. He hears our complaints too. The sin of grumbling is related to the sin of gossip. Both are forms of evil speech; both result from a critical spirit.
Gossip destroys others, breaks up friendships and severs relationships. Grumbling destroys your quality of life and that of those around you.
Imagine going to the zoo with a cranky and undisciplined five-year-old. You take the child to see the lions, but he is sulking because you did not buy him candy. You take him to see the zebras, but he is angry because he does not want to hold your hand in the crowd. You take him to see the monkeys, but he is having a fit because he wanted French fries. You buy him French fries, but he leaves them uneaten because he complains that they are soggy. At the end of the day, he did not see lions, zebras, and monkeys, nor did he eat French fries. He has had a miserable day, and so have you. The child transformed what could have been a wonderful experience into a horrible one for no good reason.
As an adult, it is easy to look at a situation like that and realize how foolish the unruly child is being. It's harder to realize that our own complaints, grumbling and murmuring is just as petty. Adults are usually sophisticated enough to disguise their childish tantrums and inner discontentment. We disguise them as serious adult issues, concerns and complaints. On closer investigation, many of those issues tend to be no more than sulking over soggy French fries. The worst part is that this is not a trip to the zoo. This is your life. If you spend it fussing and sulking, you will never enjoy the good things God is continually doing for you. You will never even notice them.
The Torah teaches that God hears all of our complaints and negativity. That's why the sages teach that the complainer is tantamount to an atheist. His complaints deny the existence of God as if there is no God to hear his bitter words.
Shelach – שלח : “Send thou” Torah : Numbers 13:1-15:41 Haftarah : Joshua 2:1-24 Gospel : John 7, 8
JUNE 8, 2023 Deuteronomy 26:1-2 And it shall be, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your […]
JUNE 7, 2023 Deuteronomy 25:13-15 You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure. Justice and honesty are crucial for the stability of the […]
