God This Week

I’ve been reading The Pentateuch lately and have worked myself all the way to Deuteronomy. I’m almost to the end and I came to a very interesting passage. In Deuteronomy 23:2-3 it explains that no Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants can enter the assembly, down to the tenth generation. Huh? The passage goes on to explain that these nations hired Balaam to curse Israel and whatnot when they entered the promised land. OK then, God made a rule, seems a bit harsh, but I suppose He is God and can do these sorts of things.

Then comes the amazing part.

Turn to the book of Ruth. Ruth is…yep a Moabitess. She marries Boaz and they have a little boy named Obed, who has a boy named Jesse whose youngest son was a shepherd boy named…David. If this genealogy is complete, then that makes King David, chosen by God, the man after God’s own heart, a fourth generation Moabite and technically unqualified to enter the assembly of God.

And so this week I am reminded of something vital.

God works among us.

He doesn’t have to be holding a perfect and spotless canvas to create a masterpiece. God works. Not even His own laws and rules and regulations will prevent the God of the universe from displaying His glory in the lives of those who seek Him with all that they are. God will be God, right here, right where we are at. All that He requires is everything that we have.

I Samuel 16:7–“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”