GIF Dedicate Your Home

“Who is the man that has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him depart and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it.”
(Deuteronomy 20:5)

Dedicate Your Home
by Larry Burkett

Many years ago, we arrived home to find that one of the apartments in our building had been vandalized, and the thieves had broken three locks to get in our neighbor’s back door. Then we noticed that our back door was open.

We ran upstairs, looked throughout our apartment, but found nothing missing. Judy then remembered that she had unintentionally failed to close the back door that morning. Even though it was open and easily observed from the bottom of the stairs, nothing was missing from our apartment.

Our neighbors were robbed of their TV, stereo tape deck, radio, CB, and other valuable possessions. When they found out we had lost nothing, they couldn’t understand why the thieves had broken through three locks to get in their apartment but had not touched ours.

However, we understood. Our apartment had been dedicated to God. Just as the Israelites did, we dedicated our home to God. We shared this with our neighbors, but it wasn’t clear whether they believed that it was really God protecting our things. That wasn’t important; what was important was that we believed it.

If faith can move a mountain, it can certainly move a thief. Of course, we learned a lesson from this experience. Although we trust God, we must not disregard safety measures. We must do all we can; He will do the rest.

“He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways” (Psalm 91:11).

Daily Scripture Reading:

2 Kings 16
2 Chronicles 28
Isaiah 7-8