Summer is always hard for me as far as being consistent in my Bible reading. I am not usually in a Bible study and so I tend to just read random sections of the Bible with out a real "plan". I don't particularly like this but it's been good for me to be more random rather than rigid. Today I landed in Deuteronomy. I was enjoying reading as Moses encourages God's people to say on His path, to follow His ways, and to be blessed. As I was reading it I was praying for my own children. I want nothing more than for them to always have hearts like this, that they might fear God and obey all His commands and then they and their descendants prosper forever. (5:29) For them to Stay on the path that the Lord God has commanded they follow. Then for them to live long and prosperous lives in the land they are about to enter and occupy. (5:33) and most of all for them to love the Lord God with all their heart, all their soul, and all their strength. And to commit themselves wholeheartedly to His commands. (6:5-7)
I have prayed for many years these prayer for my children, but then often struggle to understand why my desire to bring them to that place of blessing seems so hard and so unfruitful. Why I seem to run into so many trials and heartaches on the way there. I want to believe with all my heart that God will fulfill my desires for my children, that he will one day bring them into the promise land, but because of the bumps along the road I often feel like we will wonder in the desert forever. Then today he gave me a vision about the day when he does bless them. It came from these verses in Deuteronomy 8.
For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful! Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did this to humble you and test you for your own good. He did all this so you would never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy.’ Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.
So when my children to grow up and have families of their own and I am blessed as I seem them walking in the ways of the Lord and being blessed by all He has given them, it says......be careful! I must remember not to become proud and forgot the Lord God and all He did to get us there. I am in the thick of it now. I am in the dessert. I am in the place where it seems we will roam forever.
The promise land seems so far and too hard to ever get to, but God has promised and I must not only trust Him but also remember ever single poisonous snake and scorpion I encounter along my journey to get there. I must remember how God brings me through this place where it is hot and dry. He will give me water and feed me manna. He is doing all this to humble me and to test me for my own good. He is doing all this so that I will never say to myself "I have achieved all this on my own strength and energy" but instead I will remember the Lord my God and that HE is the one who gives me power to be successful!
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