The beginning of 2009, I was led to study the Bible in a new way (to me). I have been writing down the Scriptures (starting at the Genesis 1), Word for Word, and studying as the Lord leads and time allows. This has been such a MAJOR blessing to me! God has revealed so many new, interesting and exciting things from His Word, that I always want to share. I haven't had time to blog, sooo ... I am going to attempt to marry blogging with my morning study. I hope I can, in some way, impart my blessings to you.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Exodus 20:17 ~ You shall NOT Covet ~ Don't Be a Donkey


During our last visit, we shared the 9th Commandment: You Shall Not Bear False Witness Against Your Neighbor.
Jesus also reminded us from 1John 3:15 that we need to reconcile with our brothers, that we not commit murder ... working on that, are we?
Welcome to my humble tent. Come on in and share a portion of today's manna: the Tenth Commandment:

Exodus 20:17 ~ "You shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbor's."
It seems that we humans have a basic earthly/fleshly nature that we share with the beasts of the field.

Photo: by Jonathan Absher
Obviously, covetousness is not uniquely a human problem. The most base of animals desire to have what the other guy has. Is that grass really greener on the other side?

I witnessed a real-life version of this cartoon. There was two horses and both were in lush green pasture of several acres. Yet, they were at the fence, just like this, trying to get what each other had. SO funny ... and SO like US!!!

Almost every beast exhibits behaviors of lust and greed. However, we as humans, have been created with distinct brain functions that enable us to reason and to make logical choices. We were created to operate on a much higher level than the beasts. God expects us to use our faculties and rise above the fleshly animal instincts.
If that wasn't enough, He also put His Spirit in us, that can hear and hearken to His voice. We are a rebellious people, no less so than the children of Israel ... so Our Awesome God, the Great I AM Himself, spoke to Moses and wrote down the most important issues, in stone, for us to follow. He followed that up, by coming to earth and fufilling the entire Law so we could be with Him for eternity.



"You shall not covet your neighbor's house ..."


Image: guardianangel.in




"... you shall not covet your neighbor's wife..."


"... nor his manservant, ..."




"... nor his maidservant, ..."


"... nor his ox, ..."



" ... nor his ass, ..."





" ... nor any thing that is your neighbor's." Exodus 20:17

Hmmm...doesn't leave much room for fudgin,' does it? Nope, not at all, not ANYthing, nada, zip, zilch, zero, NOTHING!



Image: my.opera.com


I am blessed every day
with some new revelation of God's Word.
I will be sharing my measure of manna
with all who come to my "tent."
Please, let me know if you have been blessed
by the way it was prepared for you this day.
~Shalom~