Today’s Devotion
Topic: Shortcuts can be Dangerous
Text: Deuteronomy 8: 2-3 (NIV)
2. Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands.
3. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither of you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live by bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Amen.
God had brought the people of Israel from their enslavement in Egypt. Through their forty year wandering into the land flowing with milk and honey; the land of Canaan. That’s where He said He was going to plant them as a people. It was a journey of only a few short weeks, four to six weeks but God took them the long route around, till almost two generations had gone by and it took them forty years in that wandering.
More often than not, most people go through what looks like an elaborate series of problems or troubles and simply cannot fathom why they have to endure these hardships. For some, it is a sign of failure and others also tend to think that they simply aren’t made for greatness. In other words they’ve given up.
It is important for us to glean three things the bible says as to why the Lord took His people that long route around.
i. He said i took you that long way so that you could see your heart and see the wickedness in your own heart. Here we learn the principle of humility, when we see our own hearts and see its wretchedness.
ii. The principle of spirituality, that man cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
iii. The principle of faith, that sometimes you cannot be completely in control of your life except to acknowledge that there is a God up above you must submit to and trust. It’s He that will carry you through.
These principles are indwelling needs for any person that is going to be great. Beloved, carefully take a second look at your current situation and see if you are in some way ignorant of what we’ve just highlighted above.
Begin to pray now that God would groom you in humility, make you more spiritually inclined towards His Word and increase your faith in Him no matter the storm. HE IS THE DEPENDABLE THAT NEVER PUTS TO SHAME.
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