February 16, 2025
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Deuteronomy and Corinthians? Here’s today’s reading:
Deuteronomy 26 (NIV)
Firstfruits and Tithes
1 When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, 2 take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name……Continue Reading
Deuteronomy 26
Deuteronomy 25 & 26
Deuteronomy 26
Really great explanation of how to tithe. By giving the 1st fruits and obeying the Lords commands. We are to do this with our heart and soul. We are to be obedient in keeping his commands and listen to him. With that comes us being his people. Imagine we are God’s treasured possessions. We will be a people Holy to God as promised.
Deuteronomy 26
Yesterday at church I wanted to share the Psalm I had read that morning, psalm 96, but we had moved on from the verse “thy kingdom come”. The last verse of Psalm 96 is: ”For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.“
Psalms 96:13 NKJV
It struck me to read the sentiment of His coming in the OT.
And you have declared this day. that the Lord is your God and that you were walking his ways. And the Lord has declared this day that you are rich people his treasured possession. Of course to read this. He was talking about the nation of Israel, but we are included in his treasured possessions today. Are there any words in our mind that can translate what’s in our hearts?
Yesterday we were singing all those songs in church and all I could think about this is man’s best attempt to describe who God is and what we feel in our hearts I was left speechless overwhelmed. How can we describe who God is and what he’s done for us
Whenever God speaks about firstfruits I think of two things. First, everything starts with God. He gets the first and best. He doesn’t get what’s left over at the end of a day or a time but rather we give to Him first not just of our money but our time, our effort, and our focus in all things. Second, we trust of more to come. First fruit is a sign that the harvest is coming and the soil will produce more and more after that first fruit. We must trust and know that God has a plan and a purpose for our lives and when we give that live to Him, He will produce much with it. But this can only happen when we give it to Him in total surrender.
Deuteronomy 26
Here the Jews are instructed to recite certain things to reenforce why they were doing something. How important it is to do so rather than just doing something mechanically. And how important it was for them to remember where they had come from and how the Lord has blessed them in giving them the promised land. It only makes sense that they would honor Him with their tithe. And those tithes were also to make sure the Levites and the vulnerable in society were taken care of. And as God reminds them to be faithful to His laws and follow them with their whole heart, He also reminds them how dear they are to Him. How special it is for God to consider His people His treasured possession. How privileged we are to have the God of heaven’s love and hand on us!!