One of the things that made Israel distinct in the ancient world was how they were commanded to care for the powerless. Many nations in the ancient world lived by a survival of the fittest mindset and that started with how they viewed the individual value of people. The only person who was made in the image of God, in many ancient nations, was the king and that was it. In the beginning God said “let us make man in our image.” That includes every human being regardless of how society defined their worth. 

If someone damaged your property today whether that be your car, home or land you’d likely lean on insurance to handle the damages or some of the social systems in place like the police department and civil courts to pursue damages for loss incurred. Basically, if someone ran into your fence with their car you’d expect them to pay to have it fixed, or that you’d have the civil networks to get it fixed. What about a nomadic wandering people waiting to enter the promised land? What about a society given their values and laws from God? For any community to flourish there needs to be a sense of respect for property and laws in place that guide a proper response for when things go bad.

We’re in a section of Exodus that teaches us about the civil laws for the people of Israel and these laws show us a righteous response for when things go bad and the laws in this particular section all deal with property. These are not laws that we are bound to as Christians today but they do teach us some key things about things like personal responsibility and the need for restitution when we wrong or harm another. 

The Old Testament Law can be one of the most complicated parts of our Bible to understand. We finished exploring the 10 Commandments and now God turns to giving his people laws related to slavery, crimes, worship and what to do when someone is injured or harmed. This can be confusing for us because of how foreign some of these concepts are to our modern culture. For example, Exodus 21:7-11 discuss what to do if you were to sell your daughter to marriage. This was seemingly common practice in the ancient world but is an abhorrent idea to our modern ears! Also, this passage talks about slavery as if it is an “ok” thing, does the Bible support slavery? When approaching these laws it is really important to see how they differed from the legal codes of the surrounding nations and to understand that many of these laws are given by God to respond to human sin, so rather than painting the ideal God is pointing his people towards a righteous response when things are broken.

If you were to ask people on the street today if they thought Jesus was a real human being, the vast majority of them would say “yes!” If you were to ask them if they thought Jesus was God or a spiritual being like an angel, the majority of them would likely say “no way!” The surprise is that in the ancient world it was reversed. Our world today struggles with things that seem miraculous or spiritual, but the ancient world thought the idea of Jesus taking on a human nature was a sort of demotion at best or evil at worst. Much of this came from a negative view of the created/physical world (we are starting a Sunday morning class on what it means to be fully embodied people and how that relates to our worship of God in August if you’re interested in exploring this more). Many of the New Testament letters are concerned with teaching correct theology that Jesus was fully God AND fully human and that this was needed for our salvation. One such place is Hebrews 2, let’s explore seven reasons why Jesus became human and how that is good news!

Prayer can be both natural and something we can learn an grow in. Many people experience an impulse to pray from an early age that likely comes from being created in God’s image and seeing his glory in the world around us. We have a deep seeded knowledge of God’s existence, but sin and secularism fight against that and often that impulse to pray is lost. Likewise, prayer can be learned. Followers of Jesus can grow in their knowledge of how to pray and what to pray for. In the gospel of Luke, the Lord’s Prayer was a direct response to to the disciples request to Jesus, “teach us how to pray.” In the gospel of Matthew, it comes during the Sermon on the Mount as Jesus talks about what it means to practice the kingdom of God. In both situations, Jesus wants his people to have a model of prayer they can follow so they can grow to pray.

Community Group Study Guide — Praying to the God Who Lets Down
Psalm 13:1-6

Study Information:
Suffering may be the greatest challenge and greatest catalyst for prayer. Some circumstances show our helplessness and drive us to the Lord, other times we can feel distance and disappointment, especially when our suffering is ongoing with no end in sight. Many of us have heard a presentation of the good news as “God has a wonderful plan for your life!” What if that wonderful plan includes hardship and suffering? It almost certainly does. Another challenge is that we can often put expectations on God that he has not promised us and then be disappointed or let down when he doesn’t fulfill our expectations. We can also get trapped comparing our suffering to the pleasant and joyful lives of those who do not follow Christ and wonder what  God is up to (see Psalm 73).  

Prayer is an expression of faith and trust in God. In prayer we not only express praise to God but we ask for him to work in ways that we are powerless. This kind of prayer requires faith. Faith is an expectation that we can depend on God, that his work is for our good and that he desires for us to seek him. The gospels are filled with many examples of people going to Jesus in faith for things they could not accomplish through their own efforts and Jesus rewarding their faith and trust. This is not a formulaic way to get God to do something for us, that is superstition and something Jesus warns against (Matthew 6:7). Likewise, praying in faith does not require us to shed all of our uncertainties or doubts (Mark 9:24). Instead praying in faith is an expression of dependent trust in God and is key to a regular practice of prayer. 

Prayer is an ordinary and everyday activity in the Christian life. We have an incredible access to the God of the universe and we are invited and encouraged to bring him our needs, shift our attention to what he is doing and to talk with him throughout our day. We are not alone or distant to God. It may surprise you but praying at all times is actually a command in the Bible! This commands comes in the form of “pray always,” “be constant in prayer,” and “pray without ceasing.” Does this mean we spend out days with our eyes closed and heads bowed for all our waking hours?! No, instead this command invites us to live life with God who is always there. 

Does prayer even work? Well, that depends on what you mean by “work.” Many of us think of prayer primarily as supplication, which is asking God for our needs or for him to work in a specific way. Paul tells us in Philippians 4:6 to bring him our requests, God desires to hear them. We know that prayer is more than supplication, prayer is our human experience of conversation with God where we can bring our needs to God, praise him for who he is and what he has done, and experience his presence, especially in times of suffering. Yet often when we wonder if prayer has any purpose usually it is when we’re wrestling with supplication. Does our prayer change God’s mind? Does he hear our prayers? If God is sovereign, does praying even matter?

What do you long for? We can find ourselves day dreaming about the missing piece of our lives whether that be a new job, more money, a different spouse, more things or a change of scenery. More than that, we can develop a jealousy over what we see others have compared to what we have. Our world pushes us towards comparison and discontentment. Just think of marketing, often marketing is designed to convince you that you need what they’re selling and that your life is missing until you have it. Many of us can look in our closets or garages and see various things we have that we thought we needed but haven’t touched in years. Some of us have made rash choices on big purchases, changing jobs or even leaving marriages because of what the Bible calls coveting. To covet is when we don’t just notice what other people have, instead we desire it for ourselves and in the process we cease to be thankful for what God has provided. The root of the Tenth Commandment is contentment in God. When we survey all the commands this one is most similar to the First Commandment’s call to worship God and God alone because of how it addresses the heart. Specifically we’re not to look to what is our neighbors and make that thing and idol for our lives.