What is my land? (Deut 26)

Deut 26 (New King James Version)

1 “And it shall be, when you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it,

What is the “… land which the LORD your God is giving you…”? Is it my job? Is it my family? Is it a passion or talent that the Lord has put inside me? Is it a ministry that I serve in at my local church?

I have a hard time answering that question… “What is my land?”

2 that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the LORD your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide.

What is the first fruit of the land that the LORD has given me? As God reveals what my land is, I do declare that I’ll give him the first portion of it… whatever it is. For today, I will give him the first of what I have… my day, my words, my attention, my time, my income… whatever he asks.

For many years, I’ve struggled putting together what my personal mission statement is. This past year, God showed me my mission. My personal mission statement is: “To bridge people into God’s presence by the written, spoken and sung word.”

God has put in my heart for many years to write worship songs and to lead worship. One of my great desires is to begin publishing some of those songs if they will bridge others into God’s presence. Perhaps, that will be my “… land which the Lord my God is giving me…” if so, I gladly give the firstfruits of whatever that may be to Him.

Verses 8-10 describe how God has GIVEN us everything. It is all His.

12 “When you have finished laying aside all the tithe of your increase in the third year—the year of tithing—and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, 13 then you shall say before the LORD your God: ‘I have removed the holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten any of it when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me.

I thought this passage was interesting. Basically this passage saying that our tithes should be brought to the church and the church should be managing and doing the social programs. Our government has had to pick up the slack of the Christians because we don’t bring the tithe to the storehouse – the local church. God in verse 12 specifies the Levite (those in full time vocational ministry), the stranger (travelers in need, foreign ministry), the fatherless (the orphans and foster kids), and the widows (single parents and the helpless). If the Christians would just tithe, our Government could quit attempting to do social programs… but that’s another blog!

What I want to key in on in this passage is verse 14. The NIV in verses 14 calls the tithe the “sacred portion”. When we fail to tithe, forget to tithe, wait until all the bills are paid to tithe, then we are tithing with the wrong attitude. It doesn’t take any faith in God to tithe AFTER the bills are paid. God says in this passage (v1-2) and in plenty of other passages in the Bible that he wants the FIRST fruit. Offering the first – before there is any more – is the heart attitude God is after. That’s the devotion he wants us to have. See verse 16…

16 “This day the LORD your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 Today you have proclaimed the LORD to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will obey His voice. 18 Also today the LORD has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, 19 and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the LORD your God, just as He has spoken.”

How can we not gladly bring back to God, that which is His already? In bringing back to God the first fruit of what “.. the land the Lord your God has given you…” we proclaim to God that we are his and that we will follow him no matter what (v17).

Verse 18-19 tell us that in response to our proclamation to the Lord (by our attitude first, then our action) the Lord proclaims that we are his special people and that we will be a holy people to Him.

May God bless you in 2007. Give the first fruit of 2007 to the Lord your God. May he reveal to us all “… the land which the Lord your God has given you…”

Running after Papa…