Morning Musing: Exodus 23:10-12

“Sow your land for six years and gather its produce. But during the seventh year you are to let it rest and leave it uncultivated, so that the poor among your people may eat from it and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive Grove. Do your work for six days but rest on the seventh day so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave as well as the resident alien may be refreshed.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the things we ask God for are blessings. We all want to be blessed by God. We want our nation to be blessed by Him. At a recent community prayer event a member of my church sang a beautiful rendition of “God Bless America.” We want to enjoy His abundance. And, our God is a blessing God, so that’s a good and right thing for us to ask for. But the thing we don’t understand as well both at all and in terms of its implications is that God’s blessings are always directional. God is always thinking about and aiming for the other. We see a pretty good example of this character on display here in a couple of laws that don’t seem to have anything to do with this. Let’s talk about another reason for Sabbath.

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Morning Musing: Psalm 100:4-5

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name. For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness, through all generations.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Thirty-nine trips around the sun. That’s what today marks for me. That’s nearly 40. Forty used to be a milestone birthday. I’m not really sure if it is anymore. In Psalm 90, Moses talks about people living an average of 70 to 80 years which makes 40 the halfway mark. But, our current lifespan in the U.S. is just shy of 78 which technically means I’m officially past middle age in this country. That’s a bit too depressing a thought for this early in the morning, though (I started writing this well before the sun), so we’ll stick with 40 and move on. There are a few times in a given year that invite a bit more introspection than usual. For me, birthdays tend to be one of those times. So, at the risk of being self-indulgent, allow me to reflect a bit on what I know at 39.

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