Marriage is often referred to as that old ball and chain. Work can be a dead end. A car, a lemon.
What’s a drowning stone?
In Leviticus, we read of Mosaic Law. The children of Israel, brought out from Egypt, and in many cases more Egyptian than the Egyptians themselves, found it very difficult to know how to follow Jehovah God. Continually, they fell back into the customs and beliefs of their Egyptian homeland.
Yes, Egyptian homeland. The Israelites spent over 400 years in Egypt. If each generation was 20 years, 20 generations had passed surrounded by nothing but Egyptian customs and gods.
To use America as an example, let’s set our sights on the year 1600 A.D. The Declaration of Independence was 176 years away. The Civil War, 261 years in the future. Civil rights? 364 years away.
Even in America, we no longer consider ourselves the same people who lived in this land in 1600.
Hence, Mosaic Law.
Remember, Mosaic Law was a standard for a people who had no standard, the Egyptian Israelites. It was established to give them a yardstick by which to measure their commitment to Jehovah God. To follow it today would be to tie a stone to our necks and jump into a river. Mosaic Law would become our drowning stone.
The ancient book of laws wraps up in Leviticus 27:30-34. God commands the wayward Israelites to give a tithe of all crops, fruits, and animals. The final verse, 34, tells us that “These are the commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel in Mount Sinai.”
What does God want for us today, to wear a drowning stone that dictates our every move, or to give to God because we love him?
Genesis 14:20 tells of Abraham giving tithes to Melchizedek. However, Abraham offered his tithes only after the second of two battles. In the first, Melchizedek didn’t bless Abraham, and Abraham didn’t tithe to him. In the second, Melchizedek blessed Abraham. Only then was Abraham moved to provide his voluntary tithe to the servant of God.
God wants us to give to him not because he’s tied a drowning stone around our necks, but because we appreciate what he’s done for us, and we wish to show our gratitude.
God created us to worship him, and when we offer unto him a portion of whatever he’s given us, it becomes a sweet savor that rises before his throne.
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Code: FD.FGO.H.10.13b.vp