Prayer: Father, may I care for what and who Your heart beats for, the lost, the disadvantaged, that poor. Amen.
Reading: Nehemiah 5 key: vs. 1-6 “Then there was a great outcry from the people and their wives to their fellow Jews. There were those who said, “We and our sons and our daughters are numerous. We must take grain, so we may eat and live.” There were others who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our houses in order to obtain grain during the famine.” Still others were saying, “We have borrowed money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards. And now, though we share the same flesh as our brothers, and our children are just like their children, still we subject our sons and our daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved but our hands are tied since our fields and vineyards belong to others. “I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words.” TLV
Attention: As New Testament believers we are familiar with the Ten Commandments but typically unfamiliar with the great Torah which Adonai (God) gave to Moses. The Torah gave expanded instruction to Moses which covers many circumstances of life. Among those instructions was a command not to charge or extract usury (interest) from their brothers (Exodus 22:24). The brothers in this scripture are the Hebrew exiles who have returned and have nothing. What they do have, has been mortgaged just to survive and pay the king’s taxes.
Usury is a form of slavery when it is used against another. Scripture speaks against it between Hebrew to Hebrew but allows it to a foreigner which is anyone who is not Hebrew. We who are non-Hebrew are referred to as Gentiles (Deuteronomy 23:20-21) and may be charged interest.
The scriptures underscore the principle of the borrower being a slave to the lender in Proverbs 22:7.
Dave Ramsey preaches the message of debt elimination and getting out from under the pressure of debt in his Financial Peace University classes.
There is no easier way for us as a people to become “owned” (slaves to the state), than to be mortgaged to the hilt. When the state comes to relieve us of our debt, they will require ownership of our properties (homes, land, and vehicles). They will own everything.
I encourage you to beware of the financial crises which nationally and internationally we are facing. We are mortgaging and financing our way into slavery.
Action: I choose to heed the warning of scripture and avoid financial slavery.
Yield: I choose to yield to the wisdom of the scriptures.
Engage: I choose to engage in the application of scriptural principles in my life.
Relationship: I choose to live in intimacy with Adonai.
Prayer: Father, I thank You for Your instruction. May all who follow You heed Your instructions to Moses and the Hebrew nation. We do well to apply Your principles for living. Amen.
Memory Verse: Proverbs 22:7 “The rich rule over the poor, the borrower is a slave to the lender.”
Music Video: Zach Williams—No Longer Slaves https://youtu.be/bDnA_coA168?si=dvxMQVsPTrBoMswc
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”