Open Hands

¹⁴ You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. ¹⁵ You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. 

Passage

Deuteronomy 15 - 'Open Wide Your Hand to Your Brother'

Conditions

A little mixed this morning with some slower than others. Some brushes with temptation, but we arrived safely at breakfast by 7 am. 

Time

Sufficient.

Teaching

Sensing that we might need a more straightforward reading this morning introduced the passage as being about sharing and giving - God’s instructions to Israel about how they were to give and share what they had with those who had need. The question is: why?

I explained the lending and the releasing. Jelly beans are popular at the moment so I conjured up a scenario in which the children borrowed hundreds of jelly beans from me. Then on the seventh day I was to release them from their jelly bean debt. The jelly beans were theirs, they need not pay them back. Everyone was very pleased and they began asking for jelly beans. An understandable attempt to apply the passage.

It is because the Lord has given to us. He has blessed us. This is why we are to give to and bless others. There isn’t anything that really belongs to us either. It is all God’s, on loan to us. Why wouldn’t we be “open-handed” towards others? This is a good image for the children. We imagined scenarios when we are clearly not “open-handed.” I asked the children how they think we are doing as a family with our open-handedness? They knew this is not an area we are strong in, but rather weak. It is an area we need the Spirit to do work in. “What do we have that we did not receive?” This needs to go down deep. 

We finished with a portion of a prayer from The Valley of Vision.

O GOD, 
Though I am allowed to approach thee
I am not unmindful of my sins,
I do not deny my guilt,
I confess my wickedness, and earnestly plead forgiveness…

Thou hast done for me all things well, 
Hast remembered, distinguished, indulged me. 
All my desires have not been gratified, 
But thy love denied them to me
When fulfilment of my wishes would have proved my 
Ruin or injury.

('Choices,' from Needs and Devotions)