…take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name…Place the basket before the Lord your God and bow down before him. Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household. (Deuteronomy 26:2, 10, 11).

In homes with young children, many a refrigerator is adorned with the children's creative work. Parents give crafting material to the children and likely teach them some basic skills. Yet, when the project is complete, the child runs to bring it to their parents, declaring, "Look what I made for you". Together they delight over it.

Could it be that this family ritual is modelled after God's relationship with us? In our text, it is not childish craft projects, but the very work of their hands that the Israelites were to bring before the Lord and rejoice.

We often skim over the Mosaic law, believing that it is all irrelevant to us. Or, to say it more theologically, it is all fulfilled in Christ. This may be true, but there is much here that can nurture our souls. Take a moment to imagine that you are a farmer. You tend your herds. You till your fields; you plant your seeds. Day after day, you watch your flocks grow and your crops develop.

As you watch and tend and nurture, you keep looking for that animal and that crop that is the best, the closest to perfect. You take special care of that animal and crop. That is what you will take with you to worship. That is what you will offer to God. And together with others, you will rejoice over what God has given to you.

We often imagine God with eyes, watching over us. The Israelites also imagined God with nostrils breathing in the aromas of their worship, which was the fruit of their work. Their offerings were a pleasing aroma to him.

Jesus taught us to address God as Father and John teaches that believers in Jesus are children of God. When we think of God as our father, we often think of how God the father gave up his only begotten son for our salvation, and we think of God's fatherly arms comforting us in our pains and sorrows. These are real things that God does.

But the Israelites knew something else about God: he cares about the things we do from day to day. When we do them well, they are a pleasing aroma that he breaths in through his nostrils. God actually cares about the little things we work on.

As you do the little things of life this week, know that God is there watching and waiting. Not to judge, but to delight in you and your work. Don't leave them behind when you come to worship. Bring them along and offer them to him. Rejoice with him, in the good things you bring.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

Wherever God takes you today (this week), may He fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit and that you may live carefully—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.

Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning's light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it. They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud people of their homes; they rob them of their inheritance. Therefore, the Lord says: "I am planning disaster against this people, from which you cannot save yourselves (Micah 2:1-3).

Several times, I have connected coveting with a lack of rest. Today, I draw your attention to another Old Testament passage that makes this connection. A lack of rest does not refer to insomnia, nor, simply to a weekly 'non-work' day. The Bible lays out a more robust understanding of rest. It is a full-bodied trust in God that he will provide and care for us. A trust so deep that we leave behind any desires for sin, enabling us to pursue the righteousness of God's kingdom.

In our text, Micah laments that Israel absolutely refuses to accept this invitation to rest. Instead, those with means—land, money, influence, power—spend their nights plotting how to get more land, money, influence and power. They wake, leaping into action to carry out their plans. Because they already have land, money, influence and power, they have the means to implement their schemes.

These evil schemers accumulate possessions at the expense of others. This is not just a violation of the command to love your neighbour, but also of the command to love God above all else. You see, God had given to each Israelite family land through which he would provide for them. These evil schemers are seizing property God had given to others, leaving these others with nothing. They were thumbing their noses at God.

It's probable that few, if any, of us spend our nights contemplating how to defraud our neighbours. Yet it happens around us. Walter Brueggemann says, "the poetry concerns the entire system that runs roughshod over" those who have less means—less land, less money, less influence, less power (Sabbath as Resistance). This system of coveting is bound to creep into our hearts if we do not take time to rest. Sabbath keeping as I have described it is incredibly important in resisting the influences of the culture in which we live.

Micah adds a warning. God will not stand by and let this continue. He will come in judgement. He will strip those who use their means—land, money, influence, power—for evil purposes. The Lord God will remove their means—land, money, influence, power.

If we are concerned about the "entire system" of our day, let us do two things. One, lean into this profound biblical rest in which we trust in God so that we heed his command, "You shall not covet." And two, pray that God will come and set things right. In the days of our text, he used the Assyrians. They were brutal. Pray that God will use a gentler means to set things right today.

As you journey on, receive Jesus' invitation into this rest:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28-29).

Praise the Lord! He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. Praise the Lord (Psalm 147:1, 19).

Our text says that God has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. There is a back story to this. The Israelites spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness. What kind of songs were composed on that journey? Psalm 90 might have been.

Think about that trip. Hundreds of thousands of people plus animals. I've walked in that wilderness. There is no food. No crops were planted or harvested. How could all these Israelites survive for 40 years? God fed them. Each day he provided bread! And they lived!

Israel's experience in the wilderness was all about God's provision. Though Israel often forgot this season which fashioned them into a nation, the memory kept resurfacing. God reminded them. Their composers kept referring to it as they sang new songs. God builds His people by providing for them.

Psalm 147 is part of the long tradition embedding this truth in the souls of God's people. What truth? Moses explains, "Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna…to teach you that people do not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 8:2,3).

And so physical provision became combined with the spiritual provision of God's Word. Isaiah 55:10,11 offers this: "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

So, God's provision is two-fold: physical and spiritual. We learn about one from the other.

But notice this: while in the desert, the Israelites had to gather the food and prepare it before they could eat it. Once in the promised land, they became farmers. Even though they tilled their fields and cared for their flocks, they were to remember that God provided for them.

Likewise, our spiritual food does not simple fall into our hearts. There is work to be done to receive it. The public gathering of God's people for worship has always been an essential means for receiving that food.

How does God provide for you? Our text says, Praise the Lord! He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel (Psalm 147:1, 19). We are not Jacob or Israel. But we are God's church. He offers us His Word. Have we gone out to gather and prepare it, so we can eat? Have we gotten lazy? How hungry are you for God's provision?

How often do we praise God for his spiritual provisions? Do we eagerly reach for it? God provides, so let's eat. And then praise him for the nourishment he has provided.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May your day end with rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you. May you rest in his provision as he brings night, and then new dawn.

You must not live according to the customs of the nations…You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own." (Leviticus 20:23,26).

The laws of Leviticus are helpful to read when having trouble sleeping. Few Christians eagerly use them for devotional purposes. Those of us who read the Bible from cover to cover are glad to be done with the book. Many never spend any time there.

So why is Leviticus in the Bible? Could it have value for us today? The second verse in our text, "You are to be holy…because I am holy", is quoted several times in the New Testament. Our first verse gives context to this holiness. We tend to spiritualize the call to holiness, not recognizing that it a call to shape our daily lives accordingly.

Israel's economy was supposed to be different from that of the nations around her. Others were supposed to experience her way of commerce to be strange. These are the things that were to set her apart from other people. The unique ways in which the Israelite workers exchanged goods, farmed their fields, paid their servants, wove garments, prepared food, cared for their animals and took rest periods at peak agricultural times distinguished them.

This unique way of doing business would be constantly challenged by their neighbours. So how was Israel to maintain her uniqueness? Walter Brueggemann argues that it was through the regular and repeated practice of worship. "It is in worship, not contextless, cerebral activity, that Israel worked out her peculiar identity and sustained her odd life in the world." It was through the liturgy that all of life—international relations, political, personal—was brought under the rule of God.

This is a challenge for those of you who stayed home from worship yesterday because it was just easier. Worship is not meant to be easy, nor just watched from afar. It is meant to reshape our living and our values. Worship is to be acted out together—a dress rehearsal for Monday living.

As you enter a new week, how did communal worship bring all of life under the rule of God? How were you challenged to reshape your living so that it more fully aligns with the values of God's Kingdom that he is establishing through Christ? How will you respond to the holiness call?

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

Wherever God takes you today (this week), may He fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit and that you may live carefully—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Galatians 6:6-7. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube. Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca.

Dive In!

1. Where should we see the fruit of the Spirit?

2. What image ties the things in chapter 6 together? What are the two kinds of sowing?

3. Three principles of sowing seed determine the harvest.

4. What warning is given?

5. How can you carry your "load" in this congregation?

6. What happens when in the church people "share all good things"?

7. What is money good for?

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning (Psalm 130:5, 6).

When is the last time you waited? Just waited. Waited without doing something to distract yourself. No cellphone, no magazine, nothing. You just sat and waited…patiently.

Waiting is a waste of time! That is the motto of our age. But is it a good one?

Anyone remember when the Internet was slow? Today, 2 seconds or less is required for a website to load. If it takes 2.5 seconds, we've already moved on to one faster. Google engineers say that web surfers lose patience in the time it takes to blink an eye.

This is true, even though history notes that Rene Descartes, Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla made important discoveries when they were doing nothing, daydreaming. We also know that unstructured, unmediated time is especially important for the development of creativity in children. Social science studies find that patient people are more cooperative. How did they develop patience? They learned to wait.

Yet we consider waiting a waste of time. Technological advances have raised expectations for quick satisfaction.

This is not good for our spirits. Waiting reminds us that we are creatures, not the Creator. We do not command time, circumstances, or outcomes.

Abraham waited years for the promised child. Joseph endured imprisonment before God raised him up. David was anointed king long before he ever sat on the throne. In each case, the delay shaped their character. Waiting sanded down the rough edges of self-reliance.

Psalm 130 calls us to wait; to wait on the Lord; living before him in expectation, to anticipate his coming. Like watchmen waiting for the morning. In the darkest hours, it seems like the sun will never rise. It can seem so during the dark hours of grieving. It can seem so when we are living with the consequences of our sin. But morning will come.

There is a myth in American folk religion that God helps those who help themselves. But the Biblical truth is that he helps those who can't help themselves. The problem is that it often takes a long time for us to realize this. So, God makes us wait before he redeems.

However long the night seems, the morning will surely come! The darkness will not last one moment longer than the Father knows best. Then—morning! And it will be even more glorious because we needed to wait.

So next time you are waiting and tempted to pull out that cell phone, stow it away. Learn to wait. Learn patience. Embrace the anticipation of our Father's redemption. The Holy Spirit has always done his best work in the nothingness.

As you journey on, receive Jesus' invitation:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28-29).

Praise the Lord! And he has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his faithful servants, of Israel, the people close to his heart. Praise the Lord! (Psalm 148:1,14).

In this psalm, all creation sings the praise of God. We, the children of God, are the last, singing the "Amen!" But why are we so slow to do it? Why does it take so much effort for us to praise God? The psalter ends with five entire psalms calling us to 'Praise the Lord.' Five! Why does it not come naturally to us?

The answer is that all of creation is now subject to bondage and decay (Romans 8:20-21). Along with the rest of God's created order, we are subject to the power of sin. Thus, we say, "I don't want to! I want to do my own thing. I don't want to worship God." We've all been in a room of people, haven't we, when someone new walks in and immediately draws everyone's attention. In some small way, we'd all like to be that person, that centre of attention. Praising God gives him attention. It puts him at the centre. It's difficult to do.

So, what do we do? Is there a way forward? The psalm's ending gives us a clue: "And he has raised up for his people a horn" (14). This line is quoted by Zachariah who was temporarily mute because he didn't believe the angel Gabriel. After his son's birth, he sings, "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us" (Luke 1:68-69). 'Horn' is an image for strength.

Now listen to this, from Luke 11, Jesus said, "But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder" (20-22). Jesus' implication was clear. "I am the stronger one," he says, "I have come to bind Satan."

Paul builds on this when he writes, "At one time you were dead in your sins. Your desires controlled by sin… But God gave you new life together with Christ. He forgave us all our sins…He has taken it away and nailed it to the cross. He took away the weapons of the powers and authorities. He made a public show of them. He won the battle over them by dying on the cross" (Col. 2:13-15).

There we have it. The way out of sin is not within us. It is not to try harder. Rather, it is to look to Jesus. We move towards praising God by believing that Jesus has bound the powers that keep our eyes focussed on this earth and our misery. Because Jesus has released us, we can look up again.

Romans 8 also tells us that the creation waits in hope for liberation. The one through whom the creation was formed has gone through death to liberate all things. Christ frees us from the bondage of all hostile powers. Jesus reconciles us and all creation to our Creator God.

Followers of Jesus sing Psalm 148 in anticipation of all creation being free to sing the praise of God again. So, let's sing this psalm. Let's sing the last songs of the psalter in anticipation of Christ's final and full victory.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

"May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he'll do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

The Lord said to Moses, 'Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give…Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them" (Exodus 25:1,2,8).

Generations of slavery did more than destroy and demean the honour of Israel's work. It also inhibited Israel's worship of her God. Oppressed workers find it very difficult to offer their work as worship. The fruit of Israel's labor was directed to the glory of Pharaoh. How could they direct the fruit of their labour to the glory of the Lord?

Free and holy work can be offered as worship. Not by their own choice, slaves participate in an idolatrous system. God liberated Israelite workers in part so that they could offer their work as worship to him. God begins to shape this new economy in the hearts of his people by inviting them to give a free will offering. Then, they were to take these gifts to construct a sanctuary for God to dwell among them.

Take a moment to ponder the scene: liberated slaves are invited to freely offer their unique gifts, skills, craftsmanship, and artistic wisdom to adorn God's house. Those blistered hands that once built houses for dead Pharaoh, hands that stacked stones to serve his imperial and violent glory—build or die—these hands are now invited to freely offer their skill, insight, and creative touch to the construction of God's house.

Imagine, their first free work is a house of worship—a place for God to dwell with them. It is decorated with color, made with hands that are rested and free. In Egypt, Israel did 'hard labour'. To counter the demeaning work of Egypt, God invites them into this project to create a space for communion—"I will dwell among them."

The oppressive and predatory patterns of Pharaoh's economy would stick to Israel for centuries. She would constantly be tempted to slide back into economic patterns of hoarding and scarcity. With it came the impulse to treat people like Pharaoh had handled them. Her liturgies were resources to resist this. Sabbath worship was a reminder for workers to reject economic patterns of grasping and an invitation to walk deeper into God's economy of grace.

The regular observance of rest, the yearly celebration of harvests, and the public confessions of marketplace greed were designed to bring these freed slaves into a new economy through worship. The offerings God invited Israel to bring were the treasures the Egyptians had given them as they marched out of town (12:36). The tabernacle reminded Israel that she had not left Egypt emptyhanded, that God had ways of providing beyond human imagination.

As you live out this week, consider how you can direct the fruit of your labour to the glory of the Lord? How will you resist the temptation to hoard resources because it's too difficult to believe that God will provide? How can you promote conditions were workers and work are valued?

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

Wherever God takes you today (this week), may He fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit and that you may live carefully—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.