Author: Joshua Kansiewicz

Take a moment to read Deuteronomy 18 before reading the devotional below.

“Pastor, I wanted to talk to you..” I have had people say this to me over the phone, via facebook messenger and in a text.  Unbeknownst to me, they have often been working up to it. They are preparing themselves to share something deeply personal or to seek counsel in an area of life that is incredibly sensitive.  That’s why I often find myself turning the text or message into a meeting. I want to sit down, listen to the whole story, and then be able to ask a lot of questions. Each time I hear that opening comment, I am reminded of the power and influence that religious leaders have.  I am also reminded of the responsibility those same leaders have.

In Deuteronomy 18 God is using Moses to continue to teach the Israelites about godly leadership.  In this case, most of the chapter is focused on priests and prophets. The priests, or Levites, were the only people in the nation who had not received an inheritance of land.  The inheritance of land was intended to ensure that God’s people never fell into poverty – they could always grow their own food. The Levites, however, were a family unit or tribe that had not been given land.  Instead they were given the special privilege of receiving the sacrificial animals from the rest of the nation. So when an Israelite sacrificed a sheep or cow to God, the Levite was given food from that. What’s the point?  Religious leaders have practical needs, and God always wants those need provided for. Second, God talks about prophets. Simply put, God reminds his people that he has exceptionally high standards for leaders who claim to represent God.   

In this chapter God shows his love for the leaders and the followers among his people. He creates systems and structures that provide for and protect both.  As a follower of Jesus you can be confident that all his plans are in your best interests. He doesn’t see any conflict between what is best for you and what is best for another one of his followers.  He is so wise that he can come up with a perfect plan that is perfectly beneficial for all his followers at the same time.

Take a moment to read Deuteronomy 17 before reading the devotional below.

In elementary school, gym class meant doing group exercises like dodgeball or Simon Says.  I always loved dodgeball, but Simon Says was always a frustrating game. I was always great at following what the leader did.  If she put her hands over her head, so did I. If he jumped on one foot, so did I. But then you had to add another layer of obedience: only copying the leader’s actions if she said “Simon says…”  I was always one of the first people to be out. I quickly followed the leader’s actions, but I frequently forgot to listen for the key phrase. Despite my failures, this was nevertheless one of my earliest experiences of learning about leadership.  

Deuteronomy 17 (really the section begins in 16:18) begins to offer a series of standards for Israelite leaders.  First, God’s people should never follow leaders who lead them away from God (17:2-7). Second, while leaders should exercise their God-given leadership with confidence, they should always have the humility to admit when they need help (17:8-13).  Finally, leaders should always see their leadership as a way of serving God so they shouldn’t take advantage of their positions (17:14-20). What is the main idea here? Leaders are God’s appointed representatives who should seek to influence accordingly.

It may be that your influence comes from your role as a family-member or a friend.  It may be the role you play at work (regardless of your official title) or the role you play in your neighborhood.  In some arena of life, God has appointed you to be a person of influence. As you grow closer to God, he will continually invite you into greater and greater levels of influence.  You can take great confidence in the fact that you have been appointed by God to the influence that you have. You can find great leverage in having the humility to align your leadership with God’s own leadership.  Combine confidence and humility in your leadership and you will eventually find leverage.

Take a moment to read Deuteronomy 16 before reading the devotional below.

This year I will see Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol performed at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island for the thirtieth time.  I have seen it every Christmas season of my life (with the exception of one year when we went to see the Nutcracker and regretted it) since I was old enough to sit still.  It is one of many Christmas traditions that define the holiday season. It begins with putting up the Christmas decorations on the weekend after Thanksgiving. It ends with taking down the same decorations on the weekend after New Year’s.  It is the rhythm of those traditions that define the holiday season for me.

In Deuteronomy 16 God is creating annual rhythms of tradition for his people.  They don’t revolve around the holidays that many of us celebrate: Thanksgiving, Christmas or the 4th of July.  Instead, they are holidays that made sense for God’s people in that era – celebrating key events in their history and key aspects of the year like the harvest.  More importantly, however, God instituted these holidays for the Israelites not just so they could have a rhythm of holidays but so that their religious and spiritual lives could have a rhythm.  The intent was for these to be the spiritual high points of the year, constantly drawing God’s people to a deeper understanding of his love and faithfulness.

Some of these rhythms will be daily or weekly rhythms. However, annual rhythms are important too.  Let there be times throughout the year that you set aside especially to re-energize your relationship with God.  This might be a conference or a retreat. It might be a personal weekend alone set aside for prayer or it might be an annual gathering with a group of friends in which you seek God together.  The point is this: growth doesn’t happen by accident. We must develop the discipline of prior planning so that we can build opportunities for growth and intimacy into our schedules. If we don’t, our lives will simply get filled up and the spiritual rhythms that are so important will simply never happen.  

Take a moment to read Deuteronomy 15 before reading the devotional below.

Every family has heard children arguing with the shouted words, “Let it go!” and the return of “No!  You let it go!” It could be about a soccer ball, a teddy bear or a remote. Someone believes they should get the toy because they had it first.  The other person believes they should get the same toy because they “didn’t get to play with it at all last time.” On and on the argument goes, and it always seems possible that the argument could go on forever.  After all, there is only one way to end the stalemate. Someone has to let go.

In Deuteronomy 15 Moses is getting into practical details about how the Israelites need to live with God as their king.  God establishes this amazing rule that all debts are canceled every seven years. It is part of a package of rules that has one key idea at its heart: generosity.  God wants his people to live generously. The greatest challenge to true generosity is holding on too tightly to material possessions. God seeks to set his people free of this clutching, stingy spirit by challenging them to institutionalize generosity.  He also claims the first and best of all they have for himself. God has given them their land, the rain, the flocks and herds. God has given them everything. He has absolute right to claim the first and best of their animals.

Generosity begins with confidence in God’s generosity towards us.  How has God been generous towards you? Take time to celebrate God’s generosity.  Take time to express your gratitude to him. Then choose to pass that generosity along to those in your life.  Find ways to be generous to those who need help. In choosing to live generously you will be living a life that mirrors the character of God, our king.  

Take a moment to read Deuteronomy 14 before reading the devotional below.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said.  It wasn’t surprising. I was wearing a blindfold, and my teammate was navigating me through a field of obstacles.  Sometimes the directions were easy like when he said “Take four steps to the left.” Other times they made no sense, like the command to “Go forward fifty steps” when I was completely sure there was a tree in front of me.”  It turns out, however, that the teammate without the blindfold was the one to trust. It didn’t matter what I thought was in front of me. What mattered is what he could see.

Chapter 14 of Deuteronomy is just as much about trust as the game I was playing that day. The Israelites were given two odd sets of commands. The first were commands that split the animal kingdom into two seemingly arbitrary groups:  the ones the Israelites were allowed to eat and the ones they weren’t. With the benefits of modern science, many have speculated as to why certain animals were in which group.  The important fact, however, is that the Israelites who were given the command would not have understood it at all. They also might not have understood the commands about tithing: giving God the first 10% of our income.  God didn’t always try to explain. He did always expect trust expressed through obedience, however.

Sometimes you might be sure you do understand God’s voice, and it might seem that God’s commands run against everything that makes sense to you.  It’s okay to admit that you don’t understand. It’s ok to admit that you are confused. The challenge is to take that confusion and craft it into obedience.  Trust that God knows better than you. Trust that God is good. Trust that God loves you. Is trust hard for you? It is for most of us. Challenge yourself to begin trusting God a little.  Work your way up to trusting God in the biggest challenges of life. Learning trust will always make us uncomfortable. It will also make us safer.