GPS Guide – November 6, 2019
GENEROUS GIFTS
Wednesday
Read: Leviticus 19:9-10, Deuteronomy 24:19-22
” 9 ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God. ” (NIV Leviticus 19:9-10)
” 19 When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this. ” (NIV Deuteronomy 24:19-22)
Study: Mainly (but not solely) in the Old Testament Scriptures, “we move in a largely rural world of farming, with its attendant sowing and harvesting….they were to leave part of the crops for the poor and the sojourner. Harvest was thus an indicator of the Hebrews’ obedience to the moral obligations of their covenant with God.” * Even as Hebrew farmers gathered the crops to sustain themselves and their families, the law told them to remember those who did not have a crop of their own to gather. When have you seen a seemingly small act of sharing (in resources, time or talent) start good results far greater than the giver expected? (There’s no telling what God may do with even what we see as a small act of generosity.)
Prayer: Lord of the harvest, help me never to become so obsessed with what more I can get that I forget to notice what I might give. Shape me into a faithful, generous steward of all you give to me. Amen.