Daily Devotion – February 28, 2022 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
26:1 When you have come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it,
26:2 you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.
26:3 You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, “Today I declare to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us.”
26:4 When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the LORD your God,
26:5 you shall make this response before the LORD your God: “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.
26:6 When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us,
26:7 we cried to the LORD, the God of our ancestors; the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.
26:8 The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders;
26:9 and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
26:10 So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O LORD, have given me.” You shall set it down before the LORD your God and bow down before the LORD your God.
26:11 Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house.
Imagine that we collected offerings as a part of worship only once a month. Then imagine that, when we pass the offering basket and put our check or cash in there, we recited this story as prescribed by the writer of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Bible, a portion of Law of Moses from the ancient days. This story recounts the unlikely founding of a nation out of one man’s (Abraham’s) walk with the Lord, the delivery of the Children of Israel from Egypt, and their arrival in the land of Canaan, where they could earn a living and return first fruits to God in gratitude.
After reciting the story before the priest or pastor, we would bow before the Lord. Finally we would leave and celebrate with whomever God gives us as neighbors (people of our faith, immigrants, church leaders, anyone) all the bounty the Lord has given us. Sounds like Thanksgiving, or something like it.
Many of us give to church through an automated system these days – more regular for everyone and leads to budget stability and many good things. But giving our gifts off the top of our paychecks on each payday could be a time when we could count our blessings and remember to share them with people who would be very surprised to be included in such a celebration.
Whom could we surprise this week, out of our sheer delight and gratitude for God’s gifts? Might we find some completely surprise-able persons and include them in our generosity? How about living out of gratitude into the life of someone unexpected by calling someone up and being nice to them? How about taking the time to visit a neighbor? How about speaking to that sibling we avoid? How about shaking the hand of a person who votes oppositely to us? How might you share God’s generosity with someone else this week who would never expect it?
Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for teaching us to show gratitude to you for your faithfulness to us by being good to others.  Help us to share that love this week. Amen.
