Tag Archives: Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries, Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – THE LAW: SHAME ENACTED

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Read Leviticus 13:40-46; 14:1-20

To our modern Western sensibilities, the treatment of lepers prescribed in the Old Testament law can seem harsh. But in ancient times, such illnesses were a deep cause for shame. People born with deformities or afflicted with certain diseases were thought to have been cursed by the gods, and they endured lifelong public shame.

As painful as it seems, the treatment prescribed in the Law (13:45) would be an external enactment of the internal shame that a leper already felt. Though everyone might know he was without guilt, his shame was unavoidable. His status had been redefined by a condition outside his control, rendering him unfit for the company of normal people and excluded from the public worship of God.

Such ostracism might be shocking to us, but in the context of the ancient Near East, the Law’s provision for a shamed person’s restoration was merciful in comparison. The Mosaic Law instructed priests—those closest to the worship and holiness of God—to examine the leprous person outside the camp (14:3). Hope remained that if their disease had cleared, their shame could be dealt with, too.

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Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – Noah: Shame Exposed

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Read Genesis 9:18-29

For in the image of God has God made mankind. Genesis 9:6

Many people have experienced a nightmare in which they find themselves in public half-dressed or even naked. They feel mortified over being so exposed and spend the rest of the dream desperately trying to cover themselves and escape the situation, hoping no one else has noticed.

Noah woke from his sleep to discover that the nightmare had really happened. He had always been conscious of living an upright life before God and men, and God had honored him accordingly (see Gen. 6:8–9). But Noah was human, and he fell prey to the temptation to misuse the fruit of the earth for which he had toiled and with which God had blessed him. In a moment of weakness, he consumed too much wine and fell into a drunken sleep, oblivious to the fact that his nakedness was shamefully exposed.

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Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – Cain: Shame Covered Up

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Read Genesis 4:1-16

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. Hebrews 11:4

Presenting gifts is a customary part of official government visits. Lady Kramer, the British transport minister, discovered too late that her present to Mayor Ko Wen-je of Taipei, Taiwan—a watch from the House of Lords—was more gaffe than gift. In Chinese culture, giving someone a clock or watch is considered in bad taste, since the phrases “giving a clock” and “attending an old person’s funeral” are pronounced similarly. “I had no idea a gift like this could be seen as anything other than positive,” Lady Kramer said. “In the U.K. a watch is precious—because nothing is more important than time.”

Cain had worked the earth by the sweat of his brow to produce a gift for God, but God favored his younger brother’s instead. We are told in the book of Hebrews why Cain’s offering was insufficient: it was not offered in faith (Heb. 11:4). Cain might have responded to God’s rejection of his offering with humble contrition, but he chose to turn away from God in anger.

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Moody Global Ministries, Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – Shame Provided For      

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Read Luke 1:5-25

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Genesis 3:21

A Ugandan pastor tells the story of the day his father kicked him out of the house. The young man had grown restless and disrespectful, thinking he knew better than his father. His father told him to leave the family home and directed him to a hut at the edge of his property. He provided his son with enough goats to start his own herd. At the time, being forced from the family home felt like a punishment, but later the son was able to see how his father’s gracious provision allowed him to mature and to learn how to be a man.

God’s treatment of Adam and Eve following their rebellion was a severe but fitting punishment. Because they had not cooperated with God’s rulership, the woman’s body wouldn’t cooperate with her attempts to bear children; the ground would not cooperate with the man’s attempts to bear fruit. Even their relationship would be defined by tension and frustration (v. 16). Their lives would become a constant struggle against death, reminding them of the dust from which they were made and the low position to which they would return.

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Moody Global Ministries, Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – Shame Uncovered

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Read Genesis 3:1-13

You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:16-17

A child playing hide-and-seek will often cover her eyes with her hands, thinking that the rest of her body is then also hidden. An adult learns to hide his secrets more effectively, avoiding eye contact in order to disguise his thoughts and feelings.

As we saw yesterday, Adam and Eve were created by God, and they were innocent and guileless in the way they related to God and to others. When Eve encountered the serpent, she was not guarded or discreet in her interaction with him. Like a child, she took his questions at face value. She did not have knowledge of good and evil—though she did know God’s command (see Gen. 2:17).

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Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – Life without Shame

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Read Genesis 2:4-25  The LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Genesis 2:7

Marketing specialists know that an image of naked babies—cooing or playing or smiling—will capture most people’s hearts. Wide eyes and chubby tummies catch our attention, appealing to happy thoughts of a world full of innocence and wonder.

Today’s passage paints a similar picture, one of freshness, beauty, and discovery. God had just created the earth, bathing it with freshwater streams and preparing it to produce life. Finally, God shaped some dirt into a being who would bear His own likeness (Gen. 1:26; 5:1–2). He exhaled His own breath into this sculpture, filling it with life, personality, and spirit (v. 7).

God placed the newly created man in a garden and surrounded him with beautiful things to explore, create, and enjoy (v. 8–9). This human would be God’s image-bearer on the earth, imitating His creative work and tender care (v. 15).

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