Deuteronomy chapter 19.
This chapter focuses on the value of protecting people until proven guilty. It speaks of having a safe place for those who are accused of something. They need to be protected until the proper due process of law. And it speaks of having more than one witness in order to bring a conviction. But what stuck out to me is how important it is to protect someone who has an accusation against them. We need to protect those who have rumors against them by:
1. Not judging them because the information might not be accurate.
2. Not judging them because it may be an outright lie.
3. Showing Mercy and compassion because we too are guilty of some kind of sin. We need to be careful how we judge others because we may too also fall and will want others to show mercy and compassion to us.
Once we hear a rumor of somebody stealing or having an affair or hurting someone or mistreating someone, the tendency is the tell somebody. If our goal is to help restore a person then don't spread the rumor. It will only make things worse. Spreading rumors don't help people get better it only puts a wedge between them and you and restoration. If we really care about the person then we should come alongside them and help encourage them and tell them it's going to be okay.
Can you imagine what God could say about each and every one of us if he told everyone about our thought life and what we do in secret. We would be ashamed or embarrassed. We would not want to show our faces for fear of what others would be thinking about us. Instead God extends His Loving arms waiting for us to confess our wrong doings and he is quick to forgive and help us repent and be changed. We should treat others in the same manner with the same Love and encouragement and forgiveness if it's needed.
I was encouraged and challenged today. Compassion is the word that jumped out at me. I am reminded again of Colossians 3:12-15. “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
It’s so strange that I took away a very different message from today’s verses. I did not see what Blair and Jim saw. Instead two other verses stuck out to me…
11 But if out of hate someone lies in wait, assaults and kills a neighbor, and then flees to one of these cities, 12 the killer shall be sent for by the town elders, be brought back from the city, and be handed over to the avenger of blood to die. 13 Show no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you.
And
You must purge the evil from among you. 20 The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. 21 Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Maybe these more negative and less forgiving verses stuck out to me because I am struggling so much with the mass shootings that have taken place killing so many innocent people. Hearing that these gunman on certain message boards are being celebrated and encouraged. We are surround by evil. My heart breaks for the families and loved ones of those who were killed and the killers…. I know in my own family my son will not play violent video games or watch violent movies or shows. One small way I can hope to purge this evil that surrounds us. God have mercy on us all. Protect us all. Help us to be creators of good who bring back those immersed in evil, into your goodness, before it is too late.