The Daily Fountain Daily Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria Anglican Communion

The Daily Fountain Daily Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 25 August 2020 – Stealing And Swearing Falsely Attract God’s Curse

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TOPIC: Stealing And Swearing Falsely Attract God’s Curse

Read: Text: Zechariah 5:1-11(NKJV)

  1. Then I turned and raised my eyes, and saw there a flying scroll.
  2. And he said to me, “What do you see?” So I answered, “I see a flying scroll. Its length [is] twenty cubits and its width ten cubits.”
  3. Then he said to me, “This [is] the curse that goes out over the face of the whole earth: ‘Every thief shall be expelled,’ according [to] this side of [the scroll;] and, ‘Every perjurer shall be expelled,’ according [to] that side of it.”
  4. “I will send out [the curse,”] says the LORD of hosts; “It shall enter the house of the thief And the house of the one who swears falsely by My name. It shall remain in the midst of his house And consume it, with its timber and stones.”
  5. Then the angel who talked with me came out and said to me, “Lift your eyes now, and see what this [is] that goes forth.”
  6. So I asked, “What [is] it?” And he said, “It [is] a basket that is going forth.” He also said, “This [is] their resemblance throughout the earth:
  7. “Here [is] a lead disc lifted up, and this [is] a woman sitting inside the basket”;
  8. then he said, “This [is] Wickedness!” And he thrust her down into the basket, and threw the lead cover over its mouth.
  9. Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there [were] two women, coming with the wind in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven.
  10. So I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they carrying the basket?”
  11. And he said to me, “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar; when it is ready, [the basket] will be set there on its base.”

MESSAGE:

Here, Zechariah saw a vision of an enormous flying scroll of 30-feet long and 15-feet wide. The scroll expressed God’s curse that went out over the whole earth; it equally stood for God’s law and the covenant which He had made with His people. Stealing and swearing falsely in God’s name are the two major sins written on the scroll. These appear to be examples of sins against their neighbours and sins against the holiness of God and God Himself. The consequences or the judgement would be grievous according to verses 3 and 4.

The passage is a warning to us today that whoever breaks God’s law is under His curse and anger. Theft or stealing and swearing falsely as mentioned, are sins that can be easily committed, even by Christians. Unfaithfulness in tithing is seriously regarded as stealing what belongs to God;it attracts grievous punishment (Mal.3:8), let alone stealing the wealth of a whole society or community as can be seen in the political arena today. Swearing falsely is equally easily committed when we fail to uphold the confessions we make in God’s name, especially as political or religious agents in the society or even in the church. God desires that we repent of all these and live a holy life so that we can be forgiven and escape His curse and judgement.

PRAYER: Father, help me to live a life devoid of all forms of unrighteousness in Jesus’ name.