Blessed in the Wilderness
By Dean Collins
You may think you have sat through a long sermon, but I bet it wasn’t as long as all that Moses had to say to the Israelites just before he went up on the mountain and died and Joshua led the Israel into the promised land. To be fair, this long speech/sermon might be three sermons. Still with a lot of reminders and instructions for God’s people both then and now.
The first sermon is Deuteronomy chapters 1 through 4. The second speech is chapters 5 through 26. The final sermon is chapters 27 through 30. You might need a snack and a cup of coffee or energy drink to get through the second speech!
In the first sermon there are lots of great passages, but one that jumped out at me today is 2:7:
“For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.”
Moses reminded the Israelites that God:
- Blessed them in all the work of their hands
- Knows what they have and are going through
- Has been with them
- And that they have lacked nothing
Yes, their journey required work, both when they moved from place to place and when they stayed in one location. There are always daily tasks as we go through life, and traveling through the wilderness involved work. But as the Israelites listened and considered what Moses said, they could look back and see that God had indeed blessed their work all the way through the wilderness.
God blesses our work as well. When we offer ourselves and our tasks to the Lord, he will indeed be with us and bless the work of our hands.
Just as Moses reminded the Israelites that God knows both their location and what they are going through, I will remind you that God hasn’t forgotten you in your current situation. Whatever you are facing, God is aware of and is present with us on our journeys.
We do forget that God is right there, and many times the Israelites forgot as well. God has not changed his strategy or his desire to be with us. When we take time to look back, we know that God brought us through our past challenges and he will be with us just as Jesus said, “even until the end of the age.” And David reminds us in Psalm 23 that, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
Finally, Moses reminded his listeners and us that they had lacked nothing. Their clothes and shoes didn’t wear out. They had food and water. They were protected from diseases and delivered from their enemies. Scripture tells us that God doesn’t change, that he is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Father, may this passage from Deuteronomy remind us of your presence in every trial and in every moment. Increase our faith so that we can trust you more and more. Use us and our situation to bring glory to yourself. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Deuteronomy 2:7 ESV
Photo by Pexles
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