Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.--Psalms 51:10-12
There are two sides to every story.
According to New Jersey's 18-year-old Rachel Canning, her parents had abandoned her and thereby forced her into living with another family for the last four months. She maintains that during those four months her parents never contacted her or supported her financially.
Canning's parents tell the story with a little different slant. They say she left home after they had cut off her car and cell phone use as well as her boyfriend privileges. This they had done because Canning, normally a good student, had been suspended from her Catholic High School.
As you may have heard, Canning took her parents to court in hope of obtaining emergency support money, so she might finish high school and go to college. In rebuttal, her parents said, "If you really want to be on your own, you can be on your own. Don't expect us to subsidize you."
To make a long story short, the judge found in favor of Canning's parents. Now, after a conversation which hasn't been shared, Canning has moved back home and, Lord willing, everything is going to be better than it has been.
Do you remember what your first reaction was when you heard that story on the news? In all probability, most of you felt that Canning had come down with a severe case of ingratitude.
If so, she would hardly be the first. Indeed, I can't think of too many people who haven't been bitten by that bug. Consider our first parents, Adam and Eve. God had given them a perfect world, and they couldn't find it in themselves to be appreciative. No, they thought they knew better than God and could make some improvements.
The introduction of sin and death into the world showed they hadn't made the wisest of decisions.
Of course, ingratitude didn't stop with those two. Most of us have had moments when we were unappreciative of all we have been given. Listen to the prayers at church on Sunday morning. How many of those ask the Lord to give people something ... and how many of those prayers thank the Lord for blessings already in place? Now there's nothing wrong with asking the Lord for stuff, I just think the asking side and the thanking side ought to be more balanced.
If that balance is going to be restored, we will need to leave that ingratitude stuff behind, so the Holy Spirit may bring about a reconciliation between God and man.
Of course, that idea isn't new. The psalmist asked for that very thing when he prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit within me." He was talking about a "right spirit," which says, "Thank You Lord, for my Savior and Your manifold, unending blessings."
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, forgive my ingratitude. Instead, give me a new heart that is filled with joy in Jesus and all the other temporal and eternal blessings His sacrifice gives. In His Name. Amen.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
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Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
Deuteronomy 1: -2; Luke 2:1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah over against Suf, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2 It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea. 3 In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that Yahweh[a] had given him in commandment to them; 4 after he had struck Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth, at Edrei. 5 Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this law, saying, 6 “Yahweh our God[b] spoke to us in Horeb, saying, ‘You have lived long enough at this mountain. 7 Turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all the places near there, in the Arabah, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the seashore, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 Behold,[c] I have set the land before you. Go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring[d] after them.’”
9 I spoke to you at that time, saying, “I am not able to bear you myself alone. 10 Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as the stars of the sky for multitude. 11 Yahweh, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you! 12 How can I myself alone bear your problems, your burdens, and your strife? 13 Take wise men of understanding and well known according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.”
14 You answered me, and said, “The thing which you have spoken is good to do.” 15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes. 16 I commanded your judges at that time, saying, “Hear cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is living with him. 17 You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.” 18 I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do. 19 We traveled from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw, by the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as Yahweh our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh Barnea. 20 I said to you, “You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which Yahweh our God gives to us. 21 Behold, Yahweh your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed.”
22 You came near to me, everyone of you, and said, “Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up, and the cities to which we shall come.”
23 The thing pleased me well. I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe. 24 They turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. 25 They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, “It is a good land which Yahweh our God gives to us.”
26 Yet you wouldn’t go up, but rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God. 27 You murmured in your tents, and said, “Because Yahweh hated us, he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our heart melt, saying, ‘The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to the sky. Moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there!’”
29 Then I said to you, “Don’t dread, neither be afraid of them. 30 Yahweh your God who goes before you, he will fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness, where you have seen how that Yahweh your God bore you, as a man does bear his son, in all the way that you went, until you came to this place.”
32 Yet in this thing you didn’t believe Yahweh your God, 33 who went before you on the way, to seek out a place for you to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in the cloud by day. 34 Yahweh heard the voice of your words, and was angry, and swore, saying, 35 “Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land, which I swore to give to your fathers, 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it. I will give the land that he has trodden on to him, and to his children, because he has wholly followed Yahweh.”
37 Also Yahweh was angry with me for your sakes, saying, “You also shall not go in there. 38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, shall go in there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39 Moreover your little ones, whom you said should be captured or killed, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there, and I will give it to, and they shall possess it. 40 But as for you, turn, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”
41 Then you answered and said to me, “We have sinned against Yahweh, we will go up and fight, according to all that Yahweh our God commanded us.” Every man of you put on his weapons of war, and presumed to go up into the hill country.
42 Yahweh said to me, “Tell them, ‘Don’t go up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest you be struck before your enemies.’”
43 So I spoke to you, and you didn’t listen; but you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh, and were presumptuous, and went up into the hill country. 44 The Amorites, who lived in that hill country, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, even to Hormah. 45 You returned and wept before Yahweh; but Yahweh didn’t listen to your voice, nor turn his ear to you. 46 So you stayed in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you remained.
2:1 Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as Yahweh spoke to me; and we encircled Mount Seir many days.
2 Yahweh spoke to me, saying, 3 “You have encircled this mountain long enough. Turn northward. 4 Command the people, saying, ‘You are to pass through the border of your brothers the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore be careful. 5 Don’t contend with them; for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on; because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for a possession. 6 You shall purchase food from them for money, that you may eat. You shall also buy water from them for money, that you may drink.’”
7 For Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He has known your walking through this great wilderness. These forty years, Yahweh your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.
8 So we passed by from our brothers the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, from the way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion Geber. We turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.
9 Yahweh said to me, “Don’t bother Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give you any of his land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession.”
10 (The Emim lived therein before, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim. 11 These also are considered to be Rephaim, as the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim. 12 The Horites also lived in Seir before, but the children of Esau succeeded them. They destroyed them from before them, and lived in their place; as Israel did to the land of his possession, which Yahweh gave to them.)
13 “Now rise up, and cross over the brook Zered.” We went over the brook Zered.
14 The days in which we came from Kadesh Barnea, until we had come over the brook Zered, were thirty-eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were consumed from the middle of the camp, as Yahweh swore to them. 15 Moreover Yahweh’s hand was against them, to destroy them from the middle of the camp, until they were consumed. 16 So, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people, 17 Yahweh spoke to me, saying, 18 “You are to pass over Ar, the border of Moab, today. 19 When you come near the border of the children of Ammon, don’t bother them, nor contend with them; for I will not give you any of the land of the children of Ammon for a possession; because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession.”
20 (That also is considered a land of Rephaim: Rephaim lived there before; but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, 21 a great people, many, and tall, as the Anakim; but Yahweh destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and lived in their place; 22 as he did for the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them; and they succeeded them, and lived in their place even to this day: 23 and the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and lived in their place.)
24 “Rise up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of the Arnon: behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. 25 Today I will begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole sky, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of you.”
26 I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, 27 “Let me pass through your land. I will go along by the highway, I will turn neither to the right hand nor to the left. 28 You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink. Just let me pass through on my feet, 29 as the children of Esau who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites who dwell in Ar, did to me; until I pass over the Jordan into the land which Yahweh our God gives us.” 30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for Yahweh your God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as it is today.
31 Yahweh said to me, “Behold, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before you. Begin to possess, that you may inherit his land.” 32 Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. 33 Yahweh our God delivered him up before us; and we struck him, his sons, and all his people. 34 We took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones. We left no one remaining. 35 Only the livestock we took for plunder for ourselves, with the plunder of the cities which we had taken. 36 From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. Yahweh our God delivered up all before us. 37 Only to the land of the children of Ammon you didn’t come near; all the banks of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill country, and wherever Yahweh our God forbade us.
Footnotes:
a. Deuteronomy 1:3 “Yahweh” is God’s proper Name, sometimes rendered “LORD” (all caps) in other translations.
b. Deuteronomy 1:6 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).
c. Deuteronomy 1:8 “Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.
d. Deuteronomy 1:8 or, seed
Luke 2:1 Now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. 2 This was the first enrollment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to enroll themselves, everyone to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to David’s city, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David; 5 to enroll himself with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him as wife, being pregnant.
6 While they were there, the day had come for her to give birth. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock. 9 Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people. 11 For there is born to you today, in David’s city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough.” 13 Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God, and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
on earth peace, good will toward men.”
15 When the angels went away from them into the sky, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem, now, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 They came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby was lying in the feeding trough. 17 When they saw it, they publicized widely the saying which was spoken to them about this child. 18 All who heard it wondered at the things which were spoken to them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, just as it was told them.
21 When eight days were fulfilled for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
22 When the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were fulfilled, they brought him up to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”),[a] 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”[b]
Footnotes:
a. Luke 2:23 Exodus 13:2,12
b. Luke 2:24 Leviticus 12:81-24
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