Prayer: Father, write on my heart, Your words, so that I may remember what You have commanded. Amen.
Reading: Deuteronomy 17 key: vs. 18-20
18 “Now when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself a copy of this Torah on a scroll, from what is before the Levitical kohanim. 19 It will remain with him, and he will read in it all the days of his life, in order to learn to fear Adonai his God and keep all the words of this Torah and these statutes. 20 Then his heart will not be exalted above his brothers, and he will not turn from the commandment to the right or to the left—so that he may prolong his days in his kingship, he and his sons, in the midst of Israel.
Attention: Back in my formative years, my formal education included an instructive educational tool called “detention.” A student was required to attend an after-school class designed to correct behavior. In my case, it was a class which required a student to either write on paper or a blackboard, a sentence designed to pound into the mind of the student, the desired future behavior. The sentence I was to write was, “I will not talk out loud in class,” written out one hundred times.
I had not noticed (at least I had no notes) that this section of scripture had caught my notice in past readings. Adonai not only gave Moses a prophetic statement about the Hebrew nation asking Him for a king (which they did years after the era of Judges), but He also gives an assignment to the kings who would be “set over them” by Adonai’s appointment or choosing. Each king was to sit down and write out a copy of the Torah so that “it will remain with him, and he will read in it all the days of his life, in order to learn to fear Adonai his God and keep all the words of the Torah and these statutes.”
Who kept the scriptural manuscripts? The Levitical Priests we tasked with keeping the manuscripts, not the king. By writing out the Torah, the king would have his own personal copy to read and reference “all the days of his life. The purpose seems to not only to serve as a constant reminder of the God he served and chose him, but by using the manuscript as his own personal guide (think owner’s manual), his days as king would be “prolonged” for him and his sons, in the midst of Israel.
Why do I journal and ask you to journal too? A journal provides a personal record which you can reflect upon all the days of your life. A journal helps you to build a correct, biblical understanding of God, Messiah, and Holy Spirit. Your journal can also serve to establish a spiritual heritage for your sons and daughters.
Action: I choose to add a journaling lifestyle to my life for the purpose of future reflection, to remind me of my interactions with God and scripture and a spiritual heritage for my family.
Yield: I choose to surrender my will to Adonai.
Engage: I choose to engage with the scriptures daily.
Relationship: I choose to live a close intimate relationship with Adonai beginning today!
Prayer: Father, help us to glean from the scriptures the wisdom which will guide us in obedient living today. Amen.
Memory Verse: Psalm 119:11
11 I have treasured Your word in my heart,
so I might not sin against You.
Music Video: Francesca Battistelli—Write Your Story https://youtu.be/eKcImiTxqKg
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”