The following is a devotional from One Day One Step.
For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 10:17-19Cursed be anyone who deprives an alien, an orphan, or a widow of justice. All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
Deuteronomy 27:19
Self-sufficiency is a high value in America.
Those who can thrive on their own are celebrated, and those that don’t are told, “pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” While “self-sufficient” can be a seasonal descriptor, it is impossible for it to be a solidified marker of our identity; not one of us has made it this far without support of some kind, and not one of us can ensure we won’t need help in the future.
Our pride turns care – whether received or given – into a weakness; even the Israelites wrestled with this. They knew what it was to be strangers and be supported by a loving God, yet He had to remind them over and over and over to do the same for the strangers in their midst. Generations later Jesus reminded them again: “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” (John 13:15) Acts of service do not exist because we are better and others need us; each of us has depended on the advocacy of another, and we are invited to do as has been done for us.
- Invite the Spirit to reveal areas of past dependency to remind you that “you were strangers.”
- Ask the Spirit to pinpoint the strangers, orphans, and widows on your path.
- Welcome the Spirit to convict any unhealthy motives in your service.
