READING: Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19
Some years ago, I read a book that I remember not only for its helpful content, but also for its intriguing title: Our of Their Faces and into Their Shoes: How to Understand Spiritually Lost People and Give Them Directions to God by John Kramp. The essence of the book is that we must understand lost people in order to reach them – but many of us have been “church insiders” so long that we don’t know what it’s like to be on the outside.* After being a believer for almost 50 years, I would add this issue as well: we’ve simply forgotten what it was like to be lost. We’ve forgotten that we were once outsiders, too, and would still be there were it not for the grace of God.
In the wording of today’s reading, we need to “Always remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from your slavery” (Deut 24:18). For the Hebrews, this command meant that they were to treat well those who were more vulnerable and weak (often having no land), like foreigners/immigrants, widows, and orphans. For us, the memory of our slavery to sin and our bondage to darkness ought to keep us on our knees in gratitude and compel us to tell others about our gracious, forgiving God. We are spiritually free not because we are so special, but because He has chosen to redeem us.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: What do you most remember about how God drew you to Himself?
TODAY’S PRAYER: “God, grant me grace to remember where I was apart from Your forgiveness—and give me the zeal to tell others about You.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Deuteronomy 26:1-29:1
*Kramp, J. (1995). Out of their faces and into their shoes: how to understand spiritually lost people and give them directions to God (p. iii). Broadman & Holman.
