"Today the LORD is making this agreement with you." Dt 26:17
Covenants are sacred agreements, usually between two nations or tribes. It was common in the ancient world for warring people to end hostility with a covenant. Representatives from each group or tribe would split animals in half and walk between them, clearly signifying that as long as each group kept the covenant, peace would reign. The dead animals, however, were a powerful sign. If either party to the covenant broke the agreement, war and killing would begin again.
Today, Exodus reminds us that God made a covenant with his people, assuring them that if they kept the covenant, they would live in peace with God and God would protect them. It is a remarkable time for the Israelites. God is promising always to be faithful to them. Their only obligation would be to keep the commandments, and while God would often have to correct and challenge them to keep their promises, they had only to remember the covenant and turn to God to be healed.
When Christians call Jesus the new covenant, they assert that God's faithfulness has been extended to us beyond anything we could imagine. Jesus is God incarnate and his resurrection promises us life forever. As long as we live the Good News of Jesus in a transparent way God will forever walk by our side and hold us in the palm of his hand.
Today, be transparent in your gospel life. Love one another.
How do you manage broken covenants in your life and family?
From Cynthia:
ReplyDeleteA close member of my family and I had a broken covenant that lasted almost 20 years. The last 8 were most troubling. We each suffered much from this broken convenient. Although we remained friendly and spent some time together we were quite guarded with each other. The deep connected relationship was not there. We didn't share our life experiences with each other - we kept each other at arms length not wanting to let the other in. This hurt each of us deeply and in different ways. It hurt physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. It is nteresting that at just about the same time each of us was ready to step towards each other to heal the hurt. She shared with me an event in her life that was particularly hard which had happened a year or so before, and then I realized that if the covenant hadn't been broken I could have been there for her sooner. I shared with her my sorrow over all that had happened. We had seen things and events only through our own eyes. We weren't accepting of each other as we are. What a relief and tremendous healing began at the moment of reconnecting! I'm glad to say that each of us is very careful to protect the new covenant we have.