Prayer: Father, listening to Your counsel is wise instruction. Give Your servant eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart which wants to please You. Amen.
Reading: Deuteronomy 7 key: vs. 25-26
25 “The carved images of their gods you are to burn with fire. You are not to covet the silver or gold on them or take it for yourself—or you could be snared by it, for it is an abomination to Adonai your God. 26 You are not to bring an abomination into your house—for you, like it, will be a banned thing. You must utterly detest and utterly abhor it, for it is set apart for destruction.
Attention: My wife and I were traveling by airline recently and while we were waiting for our flight, a man sat down next to me. He had a carrying case which was worn and reminded me of business. I asked him where he was headed, and he said home to Alaska. I discovered that he owned a fur company and had been to several cities across the USA and Canada, promoting his fur company’s products. He told me he was a bush pilot and how he used to travel to Alaskan natives who trapped for a living and how that has changed over the years.
Trappers have used traps or snares for centuries to catch game to avoid damaging the fur pelt. I thought of him this morning when I read the word “snare” a couple of times in this chapter (vs. 16, 25). God had told Moses certain things for His covenant nation to avoid as they would “be a snare to you.” They were to not “serve other gods” and they were to “burn with fire” any carved images of their gods. Adonai called anything which usurped the exclusivity of worshipping God as an abomination. It is also an abomination to use things which God deems as holy, for purposes other than for His worship.
We have the example of when the Babylonian king Belshazzar ordered the gold and silver vessels his father Nebuchadnezzar took out of the Temple in Jerusalem to be brought and used at a party (Daniel 5:3). Not only was the seizing of the Temple vessels and abomination, but also in using them for purposes other than worship of God. It is also an abomination to bring items into your home which are used for worship of gods (also called idolatry, idol worship). Moses is telling the next generation; God expressly forbids bringing things which God considers an abomination into your home.
What kind of things today would fall into the category of an abomination or a snare? There are all kinds of demonic sourced content which is streamed into our homes through programming, gaming, entertainment, educational programs, pagan religious services, pornography and the list goes on. We are bombarded with content which is abominable and idolatrous.
Perhaps you are caught in the snare (a trap) of what God warned the Hebrew nation. Maybe you are worshipping other gods, idolatry, worship of anything and anyone but God, seeking the counsel of palm readers, horoscopes, tarot, addictions to foods, drink, sex, and pornography. They all seemed so innocent and harmless at first. Then they ensnared you and bound you. They are all a dead end, going nowhere. If you are caught in the snare of sin, I encourage you to come to the One who can free you from the snare of sin. He is the only God who forgives sin, if you cry out to Him. Notice that verse 8 Moses declares to the Hebrew children, that God not only brought them out of slavery, but He “redeemed” them. He bought their freedom with the blood of a perfect lamb. He has done the same for us in the Lamb of God, His only Son Yeshua. Do you receive His redemption plan today? Then repent and cry out to Yeshua (Romans 10: 13) and live for Him and with Him the rest of your life. Then, seek to know God through the scriptures and the Spirit. Become a disciple through the Choose Life Journal plan.
Action: I choose to live for and with Yeshua today and all my days.
Yield: I yield up my life to Yeshua and the Spirit!
Engage: I choose to engage with Yeshua in the journey of a lifetime.
Relationship: I choose an intimate relationship with the Lord of Hosts.
Prayer: Father, I thank You for the redemption of my soul which was purchased on Calvary. Amen.
Memory Verse: Colossians 1:18
18 He is the head of the body, His community.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead—
so that He might come to have first place in all things.
Music Video: Dallas Holm—Here We Are https://youtu.be/jH-pD2Psrf8
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”