DailyDevotion
These are exciting times. Scary times. Careful times. Unusual times. And unprecedented times. Never in most of our lifetimes can we remember a time when the government asked us to stay home and stay safe. And in record numbers, people are. These are strange times we live in. And yet, in these times, some things have not changed. God is still God and we are still the church.
There is a passage in Leviticus where God has been reiterating the promises he made with the Israelites. If they live his way of life, there are incredible blessing that come. Their farms will prosper, their enemies will flee from them, and they will always have enough. And as he finishes this section, God makes this promise. He saved the best promise for last…” I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.” (Leviticus 26:12)
God is still God, and we are still his people. In this series of devotionals, we want to remind ourselves of his goodness and his calling. How are we still the church during the Covid-19 crisis? How do we still live as the people of God?
In Romans, we read the promise of God that he works everything for our good. Not that everything is good, but he can bring something good out of everything that happens to us. Even the terrible things. Even the hard things. Even the unprecedented and scary things. God can do something good in it. God is an expert at taking what seems insurmountable and turning it into something good. I heard this new song recently. If you have time today, follow the link and listen to it. It’s called “Graves into Gardens”.
Over these next weeks, one of our prayers for the people of God, is that we would take advantage of this slower pace and time at home to seek God. This may be one of God’s greatest blessings of this time. We have extra time to seek him. Our extra-curriculars are all cancelled. Many of our everyday work duties are delayed. We have time. We may not have been able to say that before, but we have time for God in new ways. Let’s take advantage of that. Then share your thoughts with us. This format allows you to comment. Please share.
In each of these devotionals, after we shared a scripture and thought with you, we challenge you to pray, and then do something with what you just read. It will take 20 minutes out of the day. Twenty minutes devoted to God: consider him and his truth, pray, then go live it out.
Pray: Thank God for allowing you to be his son and daughter, his people, his church. Ask God to recommit and strengthen your relationship with him. Ask him to open the door of opportunity for you to be the Church.
Action: Take some time and read Leviticus 26:1-13. Set an appointment each day on your calendar to spend time with him. Comment on this devotional.
Leviticus 26:1-13 NIV "'Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the LORD your God. 2 "'Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD. 3 "'If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4 I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land. 6 "'I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. 7 You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you. 9 "'I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. 10 You will still be eating last year's harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. 11 I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.