NOVEMBER 6, 2025
Deuteronomy 12:20-25 (HCSB)
20 “When the Lord your God enlarges your territory as He has promised you, and you say, ‘I want to eat meat’ because you have a strong desire to eat meat, you may eat it whenever you want. 21 If the place where Yahweh your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, you may slaughter any of your herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want. 22 Indeed, you may eat it as the gazelle and deer are eaten; both the clean and the unclean may eat it. 23 But don’t eat the blood, since the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. 24 Do not eat blood; pour it on the ground like water. 25 Do not eat it, so that you and your children after you will prosper, because you will be doing what is right in the Lord’s sight.
Sarah Ricciardi
As Zoe prepares to head off to college in a couple weeks, my mind drifts often to what my freshman year was like. I remember being dropped off at the dorm, all my stuff surrounding me. I bawled like a newborn. While I was excited about this next step, enlarging my territory felt utterly terrifying. I wounder if Israel felt the same way at time? I have always read, “enlarge your territory” and thought, “YES! Go, God! That’s what He has for His children–abundance and freedom!” I haven’t really thought until now that maybe the thought of abundance and freedom was also a little scary. Do you ever feel that way? When God opens a new door, a different opportunity, that part of you is holding back, questioning because that territory is unknown? It’s scientific, our brains crave patterns, they lean into what is “normal”, familiar, the roads or habits walked before. Maybe I am reading too much into this, but the end of the sentence says that following God’s enlarging territory, “and you crave meat...” God gives guidelines for enjoying the meat. To me that looks like God gently nudging..when you step into the land I have promised you, Sarah, and you crave (chocolate, strong coffee, or maybe moments of creativity?) I will make a way. Doesn’t that declare God’s love? He could have said, eat beans for your protein. But He makes a way. He always makes a way.
20 “When the Lord your God enlarges your territory as He has promised you, and you say, ‘I want to eat meat’ because you have a strong desire to eat meat, you may eat it whenever you want. 21 If the place where Yahweh your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, you may slaughter any of your herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want. 22 Indeed, you may eat it as the gazelle and deer are eaten; both the clean and the unclean may eat it. 23 But don’t eat the blood, since the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. 24 Do not eat blood; pour it on the ground like water. 25 Do not eat it, so that you and your children after you will prosper, because you will be doing what is right in the Lord’s sight.
Sarah Ricciardi
As Zoe prepares to head off to college in a couple weeks, my mind drifts often to what my freshman year was like. I remember being dropped off at the dorm, all my stuff surrounding me. I bawled like a newborn. While I was excited about this next step, enlarging my territory felt utterly terrifying. I wounder if Israel felt the same way at time? I have always read, “enlarge your territory” and thought, “YES! Go, God! That’s what He has for His children–abundance and freedom!” I haven’t really thought until now that maybe the thought of abundance and freedom was also a little scary. Do you ever feel that way? When God opens a new door, a different opportunity, that part of you is holding back, questioning because that territory is unknown? It’s scientific, our brains crave patterns, they lean into what is “normal”, familiar, the roads or habits walked before. Maybe I am reading too much into this, but the end of the sentence says that following God’s enlarging territory, “and you crave meat...” God gives guidelines for enjoying the meat. To me that looks like God gently nudging..when you step into the land I have promised you, Sarah, and you crave (chocolate, strong coffee, or maybe moments of creativity?) I will make a way. Doesn’t that declare God’s love? He could have said, eat beans for your protein. But He makes a way. He always makes a way.
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