Daily D – Exodus 22:26-27

by | Feb 6, 2021 | Daily D | 0 comments

If you ever take your neighbor’s cloak as collateral, return it to him before sunset. For it is his only covering; it is the clothing for his body. What will he sleep in? And if he cries out to me, I will listen because I am gracious. EXODUS 22:26-27 (CSB)

_____________________________________________________________________________

“I will listen because I am gracious.”
God

Exodus is a book about justice, property rights, ethical behavior, and doing the right thing the right way for the right reason in the right time. It is all this and more. It is also about treating people with grace, mercy, kindness, and compassion. 

God is concerned about resident aliens. He is concerned about neighbors who are down to nothing but the clothes on their backs. He wants all people to take the right lead measures in all things to get the right outcomes in almost all cases. There will be exceptions always. He has guidance for the exceptions as well. 

The most important guideline may be what God says here. “I will listen because I am gracious.” God knows. God sees. God hears. God truly listens. God responds. When he acts and responds, he acts and responds with grace. 

When we find ourselves in a tough spot and do not know what to do, we do well to err on the side of grace. Some things are right and wrong, black and white. Many, if not most, situations are one shade of gray or another. When we struggle to decide if that gray is more black or more white, the benefit of the doubt should be on the side of white. 

If God can put up with problem people over decades, so can we. If God can change the hearts of even the most recalcitrant of acquaintances, we can wait a little longer for people to have that opportunity for themselves. Stopping to reflect just now, it dawns on me that on many occasions, one person or another has erred on the side of grace with me. 

Some people like to point out that Hammurabi’s Code is a lot like what God gives Moses and Israel. They are similar in that they are both law codes. However, in the Hammurabi Code, there was the equivalent of the death penalty for parking tickets. You can look it up. There was no grace. There was no mercy. There was no compassion.

I double-dog dare you to read through the statutory and case laws of Exodus and come to the same conclusions. Again and again, God talks about mercy, compassion, grace, and means of forgiveness and restitution. There is no death penalty for parking tickets. 

You will have an opportunity soon to take a pound of flesh or to err on the side of grace. One of these makes you more like God. One of these demonstrates his effect on your life. One of these gives you the opportunity to live in peace going forward. The wise choice is to err on the side of grace, even if you may have to do it again and again. 

_____________________________________________________________________________

I will err on the side of grace.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Our Father, you have been more gracious to me than I will ever have to be with anyone else. Empower me to err on the side of grace as long as it is grace to do so. I need your grace to make this happen. I know you love to give this kind of healing grace to all who ask because you are gracious. Amen. 

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

CONNECT WITH ME!

Interested in learning more about Church Unique or Life Younique? Send a note through the Get In Touch box or Message me through the Facebook link above.

          Church Unique Logo          Auxano Logo

GET IN TOUCH!

READ MY BLOG!

Daily D – Matthew 1:20-21

Matthew 1:20, 21 But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Daily D – Hebrews 6:15

Hebrews 6:15 And so, after waiting patiently, Abraham obtained the promise.

Daily D – Hebrews 4:15-16

Hebrews 4:15, 16 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.

Daily D – Psalm 25:8

Psalm 25:8 The Lord is good and upright;
therefore he shows sinners the way.
He leads the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way.

Daily D – Philemon 15, 16

Philemon 15, 16 For perhaps this is why he was separated from you for a brief time, so that you might get him back permanently, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave — as a dearly loved brother. He is especially so to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.