-Devotion by Jeremy Martin (TN)
The books of Kings read like a fast paced ancient soap opera, with lots of betrayals, fighting, and excitement. In the short span of these two chapters in 2 Kings from today’s reading we see 9 different shifts of political power, including 1 guy that only lasted a month in the job (1Ki 15:13-14). There’s a LOT going on here. These books let us know right off if we like a guy or if we don’t, as one of the first lines describing every ruler who takes power in either Israel or Judah (this was the time of the split kingdoms) says something along the lines of “…And he did what was right in the sight of Yahweh” or “…And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh” (LSB translation used for both quotes). These books were always very interesting to me as a kid, because of all the excitement going on.
Our modern politics get a little exciting too, occasionally. I remember during the last American election it seemed like there was a very strong delineation in ideological beliefs, with some folks heavily leaning in one direction and some folks leaning heavily in the other. I’m going to share my favorite verse on politics because I think it’s important to keep in mind what kingdom we aspire to be citizens of. This is a good one to memorize, it’s found in Isaiah 8:11-13 and states:
“11For thus Yahweh spoke to me with a strong hand and disciplined me not to walk
in the way of this people, saying,
12“You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’
In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy;
And you are not to fear what they fear, and you shall not tremble.
13It is Yahweh of hosts whom you should regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your cause of trembling.” (LSB Translation)
Focus on the important things, in other words. So sure, things might be getting exciting in the local political arena. There may be mud slinging, drama, excitement, slander, conspiracies, etc going on, but what we need to remember politically is that God’s got this. All these things will happen according to God’s will, and God’s plan, and we know according to scripture that it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Don’t get too caught up in it. I’m not saying don’t vote, or care, I’m saying our focus needs to be on God. It does not behoove us as followers of Christ to focus overmuch in the politics of this kingdom, but rather to focus on seeking first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.
I did want to briefly point out a verse in our Psalms reading today, because it’s just so cool. I have mentioned this in passing before, but the name of Jesus (Yehushua, or Yeshua for short) means literally “salvation” or “Yahweh saves”. So when we get to our reading in Ps 67:2 today it says “That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation (יְשׁוּעָתֶֽךָ׃ , “Yeshuateka”) among all the nations.”. It literally is telling us that God’s Yeshua will be known among all the nations. Read that in context with the entire chapter. This is the ultimate foreshadowing. Pretty cool, isn’t it?! For a similar use of Yeshua in prophetic foreshadowing also check out Isaiah 49:6. He reveals to us His plans in advance, it’s pretty awesome.
We’re going to really focus in on our 2 Corinthians 9 reading today and being a good steward of the blessings that God’s given you, because it very much highlights a concept that is critical but largely ignored in the Christian community, and I firmly believe that it is a necessary information/practice (based on a number of scriptures) to enter into God’s kingdom, so please take note! This is probably going to be a new word for you, but what I’m talking about is Tzedakah. A (bad) translation of Tzedakah would be “Charity”, but that doesn’t come even close to covering the full flavor or meaning of the term. Here’s (some of) what Wikipedia says about it (and I encourage you to look this up yourself as well, there are even some Youtube videos on the subject):
WIKIPEDIA: “…Tzedakah (Tzedaka) refers to the religious obligation to do what is right and just, which Judaism emphasizes as an important part of living a spiritual life. Unlike voluntary philanthropy, tzedakah is seen as a religious obligation that must be performed regardless of one’s financial standing, and so is mandatory even for those of limited financial means. Tzedakah is considered to be one of the three main acts that can positively influence an unfavorable heavenly decree.
The word tzedakah is based on the Hebrew (צדק,Tzedeq), meaning
“righteousness, fairness,or justice
The concept of tzedaka is completely intertwined with the concepts of righteousness, equity, mercy, and justice: so much so that you can almost substitute each word with one of the others listed above when you see any of them in the scriptures, if tzedeq is the root word (it usually is). There are hundreds of instances like this in scripture, but most of the time we translate it into english as “Righteousness”, or “Justice” and completely ignore the deeper spiritual aspect of “Mercy”, but they are all inseparably intertwined! Charity isn’t what it’s talking about, specifically. I’ll try to elaborate a little for a better understanding.
God has given you an abundance of gifts. He has given these gifts to each of us in varying degrees, but all blessings have come from God (James 1:17). You didn’t earn that, God gave it to you. Everything and everyone on this earth belongs to God, and He has chosen to share some with you (Ps 24:1). Now if you think that God gave you that blessing so you could hoard it up and lord it over your fellow creation (like most of us tend to think nowadays) you would be 100% wrong: He gave us gifts so that we could share them and by so doing honor our God.
Jesus himself actually commands us to “give to any who ask” in Matt 5:42. This is not about charity, this is about radical generosity as a proof of your faith, rooted in the trust of God’s provison and a desire to honor Him and reflect His unconditional love to the rest of your fellow creation. This is an opportunity to model a working faith and trust in our God. This is not an option. See James 5:1-5, and begin to understand in no uncertain terms that this is a command by God. It is God’s expectation of you that when your cup runneth over, you splash it around, in other words. As an indication of importance, each of our other sister religions, our fellow “Children of the Book” (consisting of Jews, Christians, and Muslims), each have a word and a religious requirement to do this. Oddly, we don’t. Please, do not let the money you’ve kept in your pockets weigh you down so much that you can’t enter into the kingdom of Heaven.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- Which kingdom are you more focused on, the one you’re living in, or the one coming? Follow up question: How’s that working out for you?
- Do you currently practice tzedakah (even if you didn’t know the word, before)? Why?
- How can we do better?
PRAYER
Father God, from Your generous hand has come all of our many blessings, which we have not deserved or earned. Father, forgive us the times when we have been selfish, and help us to change our hearts to become better servants and an example of Your love to those around us, to everyone we know and to everyone we meet. In Jesus name, Amen.
Seek Grow Love 