God Is Holy [Deuteronomy 13]

 6"If your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (whom neither you nor your fathers have known,

 7of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end),

 8you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him.

 9"But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

 10"So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.


 

Oh my!!! Once again, I am startled by God's standard for His people. It was bad enough that He directed them to kill men, women and children of the enemy to clear out the land. However, telling them to kill their own family members because he or she made a suggestion to check out the other god's seems way over the top! What kind of God would do that? The answer to that question is a Holy God, a God who knew they couldn't live up to this holy standard, a God who was preparing them to hunger for a Savior to take the burden of holiness off of them and put the holiness in them. 


We praise You that You are Holy and that You extended Your holiness into our lives through Jesus and His Holy Spirit. Thank you that you removed the burden of killing those who oppose You in our midst to keep ourselves holy. Thank you that because of the death of Jesus, now our job is to fill with Your love and grace and let it overflow on this broken world. Cause us to remember Your holiness and impossible standard and be grateful that You gave us Your Son to do what we could never do.

Beth Warlick, 9/6/2010