WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: Sometimes passages in the Old Testament are hard to understand this side of the cross. In such cases, we need to ask God to speak a word of truth into our lives through his Spirit. Conflict transformation I work in an area often referred to as conflict transformation. Sometimes in countries emerging from a violent past this brings me into contact with other peace-builders, ex-combatants who in former times might even have taken someone’s life. Some of these people are now involved in governments, leading change and building democracy. Everyone has a past, but it is also true that everyone has a future. Most of us will grow old never having committed a crime or an act of hostility against another person. Sometimes, however, things happen which lie outside our control and people get hurt because of something we said or did (v 3). God’s refuge In today’s passage, God shows us that he provides a safe place for people who have messed things up (v 9). In the case of the cities of refuge, the amnesty covered those unintentional acts for which the normal societal reaction was ‘an eye for an eye’ (Deuteronomy 19:21). In the case of the cross, however, God’s refuge offers cover for all our wrong acts, intentional as well as unintentional. Respond: Praise God that he accepts us as we are and helps us to become what he wants us to be. Thank him for his forgiveness, which covers our past and opens up our future. http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-06-12