The Ten Commandments are
the foundational laws for all of Israel, but hundreds of additional laws were
given, applying and expanding upon those ten.
Today I found myself
wondering what life must have been like back then that would require God to
provide the laws mentioned today. So many of laws in today’s chapter touch on
stealing and conniving goods or animals from others. It makes me think that life
in Egypt
Add to that the ‘social
responsibility’ laws in verse 16-31. It certainly appears as if life was hard
back then. I struggle with verse 19. How perverse were people that God had to
put into the law, no sex with animals. I mean really! Was that going on in
Israel Egypt or was that the kind of
influence they would face from the peoples in Canaan ? How depraved were
people?
Whatever and whoever were
the reasons for this law, it paints an ugly picture of the corruption of people
then.
Have we really changed that
much? A young woman, I know, just left for Asia
to work with International Justice Mission working to free children, women and
adults from sex slavery and other forms of human trafficking. And lest we think
that is an issue over there,I am returning from a conference where I met another
twenty-something young woman working in the Hamden, Virginia area with sex and
human trafficking victims in that area!
My heart cries, ‘How can
this be?’
But no amount of laws can
cure the human heart. Laws can restrain the heart but they will never cure the
heart of its evil. Only Jesus can give a person a new heart. Only Jesus can
recreate us from the inside out.
Those two women I mentioned
above, have been made new by Jesus and now they both work to help others find
freedom. Freedom from the human trafficking they are trapped in and freedom
from the pain and emotional scars through faith and healing in
Jesus.
If you are a Jesus
follower, are you reaching out to others in need?
If you are not a Jesus
follower, would you like to find freedom from hurts and scars? If you want to
know more about Jesus, email me. I’d be glad to chat and help
you…
Lord, I pray
for people who have been scared by the hurt-filled actions of others. Help those
who are seeking and hurting find You, Jesus, and find the help and healing that
You can bring.
Lord, I pray,
too, for the two women I mentioned. Strengthen them to help others. Protect
their hearts form growing hard and calloused by the things they will see. And
give them resolve to help others in Your name. Amen.
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