Exodus 22 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God Chats in the Closet

Religious leaders loved to make theater out of their prayers. The show nauseated Jesus. In Matthew 6:6 He said, "When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who cannot be seen. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and He will reward you."
The words surely stunned Jesus' audience. The people were simple farmers and stonemasons. They couldn't enter the temple. But they could enter their closets. The point? He is low on fancy, high on accessibility. You need not woo him with location! Or wow him with eloquence. It's the power of a simple prayer.
Join me every day for 4 weeks, to pray 4 minutes, a simple prayer. Sign on at Before Amen.com. Then get ready to connect with God like never before!
Before Amen

Exodus 22

 “If someone steals an ox or a lamb and slaughters or sells it, the thief must pay five cattle in place of the ox and four sheep in place of the lamb. If the thief is caught while breaking in and is hit hard and dies, there is no bloodguilt. But if it happens after daybreak, there is bloodguilt.

3-4 “A thief must make full restitution for what is stolen. The thief who is unable to pay is to be sold for his thieving. If caught red-handed with the stolen goods, and the ox or donkey or lamb is still alive, the thief pays double.

5 “If someone grazes livestock in a field or vineyard but lets them loose so they graze in someone else’s field, restitution must be made from the best of the owner’s field or vineyard.

6 “If fire breaks out and spreads to the brush so that the sheaves of grain or the standing grain or even the whole field is burned up, whoever started the fire must pay for the damages.

7-8 “If someone gives a neighbor money or things for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor’s house, the thief, if caught, must pay back double. If the thief is not caught, the owner must be brought before God to determine whether the owner was the one who took the neighbor’s goods.

9 “In all cases of stolen goods, whether oxen, donkeys, sheep, clothing, anything in fact missing of which someone says, ‘That’s mine,’ both parties must come before the judges. The one the judges pronounce guilty must pay double to the other.

10-13 “If someone gives a donkey or ox or lamb or any kind of animal to another for safekeeping and it dies or is injured or lost and there is no witness, an oath before God must be made between them to decide whether one has laid hands on the property of the other. The owner must accept this and no damages are assessed. But if it turns out it was stolen, the owner must be compensated. If it has been torn by wild beasts, the torn animal must be brought in as evidence; no damages have to be paid.

14-15 “If someone borrows an animal from a neighbor and it gets injured or dies while the owner is not present, he must pay for it. But if the owner was with it, he doesn’t have to pay. If the animal was hired, the payment covers the loss.

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16-17 “If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the marriage price and marry her. If her father absolutely refuses to give her away, the man must still pay the marriage price for virgins.

18 “Don’t let a sorceress live.

19 “Anyone who has sex with an animal gets the death penalty.

20 “Anyone who sacrifices to a god other than God alone must be put to death.

21 “Don’t abuse or take advantage of strangers; you, remember, were once strangers in Egypt.

22-24 “Don’t mistreat widows or orphans. If you do and they cry out to me, you can be sure I’ll take them most seriously; I’ll show my anger and come raging among you with the sword, and your wives will end up widows and your children orphans.

25 “If you lend money to my people, to any of the down-and-out among you, don’t come down hard on them and gouge them with interest.

26-27 “If you take your neighbor’s coat as security, give it back before nightfall; it may be your neighbor’s only covering—what else does the person have to sleep in? And if I hear the neighbor crying out from the cold, I’ll step in—I’m compassionate.

28 “Don’t curse God; and don’t damn your leaders.

29-30 “Don’t be stingy as your wine vats fill up.

“Dedicate your firstborn sons to me. The same with your cattle and sheep—they are to stay for seven days with their mother, then give them to me.

31 “Be holy for my sake.

“Don’t eat mutilated flesh you find in the fields; throw it to the dogs.”

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Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Sunday, October 17, 2021
Today's Scripture John 16:12–15 (NIV)
“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.z 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth,a comes, he will guide you into all the truth.b He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine.c That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
Insight

Before Jesus left the earth, He promised His disciples He would send “the Spirit of truth,” who would guide them “into all the truth” (John 16:13). The Spirit would relay what Jesus made known to Him. Jesus also told them that when they were arrested and brought to trial, they needn’t “worry beforehand about what to say.” Instead they were to speak whatever was given them to say because it would be “the Holy Spirit” speaking (Mark 13:11). In Luke, Jesus says something similar: “When you are brought before . . . authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say” (12:11–12; see John 14:26). In a season of persecution, the Holy Spirit will help and equip all believers in Jesus. By: Alyson Kieda

Insight from the Spirit

When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.
John 16:13

As the French soldier dug in the desert sand, reinforcing the defenses of his army’s encampment, he had no idea he would make a momentous discovery. Moving another shovelful of sand, he saw a stone. Not just any stone. It was the Rosetta Stone, containing a listing of the good things King Ptolemy V had done for his priests and the people of Egypt written in three scripts. That stone (now housed in the British Museum) would be one of the most important archaeological finds of the nineteenth century, helping to unlock the mysteries of the ancient Egyptian writing known as hieroglyphics.

For many of us, much of Scripture is also wrapped in deep mystery. Still, the night before the cross, Jesus promised His followers that He would send the Holy Spirit. He told them, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come” (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit is, in a sense, our divine Rosetta Stone, shedding light on the truth—including truths behind the mysteries of the Bible.

While we’re not promised absolute understanding of everything given to us in the Scriptures, we can have confidence that by the Spirit we can comprehend everything necessary for us to follow Jesus. He will guide us into those vital truths. By:  Bill Crowder

Reflect & Pray

What are some portions of the Bible you have found difficult? List them and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you into better understanding of those Scriptures.

God of all truth, help me to rest in the Spirit of truth that I might better understand the wisdom You’ve provided.

Read A Message for All Time: Understanding and Applying the Bible.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 17, 2021
The Key of the Greater Work

…I say to you, he who believes in Me,…greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. —John 14:12

Prayer does not equip us for greater works— prayer is the greater work. Yet we think of prayer as some commonsense exercise of our higher powers that simply prepares us for God’s work. In the teachings of Jesus Christ, prayer is the working of the miracle of redemption in me, which produces the miracle of redemption in others, through the power of God. The way fruit remains firm is through prayer, but remember that it is prayer based on the agony of Christ in redemption, not on my own agony. We must go to God as His child, because only a child gets his prayers answered; a “wise” man does not (see Matthew 11:25).

Prayer is the battle, and it makes no difference where you are. However God may engineer your circumstances, your duty is to pray. Never allow yourself this thought, “I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly cannot be used where you have not yet been placed. Wherever God has placed you and whatever your circumstances, you should pray, continually offering up prayers to Him. And He promises, “Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do…” (John 14:13). Yet we refuse to pray unless it thrills or excites us, which is the most intense form of spiritual selfishness. We must learn to work according to God’s direction, and He says to pray. “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38).

There is nothing thrilling about a laboring person’s work, but it is the laboring person who makes the ideas of the genius possible. And it is the laboring saint who makes the ideas of his Master possible. When you labor at prayer, from God’s perspective there are always results. What an astonishment it will be to see, once the veil is finally lifted, all the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you have been in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 50-52; 1 Thessalonians 5