Daily Reading: Deuteronomy 1
Scripture Focus: It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. (Deuteronomy 1.2)
Devotional Thought: In my job, I travel frequently - sometimes flying, but often driving. There are times when my travel time is extended due to unforeseen conditions on the road. If there is construction or an accident, what should be a five hour drive can become an eight hour ordeal.
The journey of life is like that:
• The people of the Exodus took 40 years to go on an 11 day journey to enter the Promised Land. They blew it and never reached their destination. Even Moses wasn’t allowed to cross over!
• Adam and Eve were created in direct relationship with God. They blew it and were cast out of the garden.
• Peter walked with Jesus. He blew it and denied Jesus three times.
What about us? Are we blowing it? Yes, but God redeems our failures.
Even though Adam and Eve failed, God gave them the privilege of directing their children into a relationship with him. Sure, they had the heartache of living through the consequence of their sin. They had “good” children, and they had “not-so good” children. But, they knew what it was like to have a perfect relationship with God, and they were privileged to be a part of God’s plans for offering salvation to all who would come after them. And Peter's failure? God redeemed it so that Peter grew to be a rock in the Kingdom.
What about those Israelites that participated in the journey to the Promised Land, but never quite attained the goal? Did they quit? No. Were they influential in their children’s lives and their nation’s success? Yes. They pushed onward to the goal. God redeemed their failure by showing them his faithfulness and allowing them to prepare the next generation for life in the Promised Land.
-John Wade
Prayer: Lord, I know that life is not a smooth and even trail, but a journey of starts and stops - of calm and chaos. In it all, may you redeem my failures and lead me on to the Promised Land. Amen.
Psalm of the Day: Psalm 10.1-11
1 Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised. 3 For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. 4 In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.” 5 His ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of his sight; as for all his foes, he puffs at them. 6 He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved; throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.” 7 His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. 8 He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; 9 he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket; he lurks that he may seize the poor; he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net. 10 The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might. 11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”
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