Last Sunday, John reported on the bi-annual stew our church conducts. Twice a year, our congregation makes about 1,300 quarts of Brunswick stew, selling it to fund mission projects throughout the year. When John thanked folks for preparing, cooking stirring, and packaging—all that goes into a successful stew, he paused and said, “This is a good example of our stew-ardship.”
Brief pause for you to groan.
Deuteronomy speaks of the stewardship of the land God has given the Israelites. The key to caring for this bounty is to remember that it comes as God’s gift and not as the harvest of our wisdom. (Deuteronomy 8:17-18). We are stewards of what God gives us when we walk in the ways God intends (v. 6).
Before the Israelites got to the Promised Land, they wandered in the desert for forty years. Even there, however, they were still to honor the presence of God and to acknowledge that. Leviticus 23:33-43 spells out how they were to celebrate God’s presence with a series of festivals. Desert or Promised Land, God’s presence is to be recognized.
How do we honor these instructions for our own time? When there is plenty, we give God credit. When there is desert we still honor that God is with us. [Remember Psalm 23:4—“Even though I walk through the darkest valley—valley of the shadow of death (KJV)—I fear no evil; your rod and your staff—they comfort me.”]
Deuteronomy 8:11 tells us how we are to remember God’s presence, how we are to be stewards of God’s presence. It is by doing what God has commanded. How about loving your neighbor? How about caring for yourself? How about watching over the environment God has given us? How about feeding the hungry, caring for the poor, visiting those in prison? How about using a God-lens as we decide how to spend our money and our time?
Good stewardship—good stew-ardship—recognizes that God is in our midst.
What Someone Else Has Said: In his book of poetry (Becoming Just, Resource Publications) S T Kimbrough, Jr., has written: “Deeds can be our ruination if they’re rooted in conceit. / If they cause utter vexation, our lives will be bittersweet.”
Prayer: As you prepare this lesson, let your prayer begin: “Open my heart to Your presence, O God...”
