Verse of the Day 1/14
Deuteronomy 11:11-12 But the land you are entering to possess is a land of mountains and valleys, watered by rain from the sky. 12 It is a land the Lord your God cares for. He is always watching over it from the beginning to the end of the year. Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
Today's verses come from Deuteronomy chapter 11 where Moses reiterates much of what was said in chapter 6 where we read the "Shema" about loving the Lord your God with all of your heart soul and mind. Read the context of today's passage below. It was written as Moses prepared to lead the people into the promised land. He wasn't preaching "name it and claim it theology", he knew that many challenges were ahead for them but encouraged and challenged them to remember that the Lord their God would care for them in His land.
When he wrote these words he was speaking of literal hills and valleys. But as we head into the new year, we can be sure that we will face physical and emotional hills and valleys, but we too need to be challenged and encouraged to follow the Lord as He leads us along paths that we do not know. He is watching over us.
Nicholaus Ludwig Zinzendorf writes,
He leads us on by paths we did not know; Upward He leads us, though our steps be slow, Though oft we faint and falter on the way, Though storms and darkness oft obscure the day; Yet when the clouds are gone, We know He leads us on. He leads us on through all the unquiet years; Past all our dreamland hopes, and doubts and fears, He guides our steps, through all the tangled maze Of losses, sorrows, and o'er clouded days; We know His will is done; And still He leads us on.
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His faithful mercies?
Who through life has been my guide
Heavenly peace divinest comfort
Ere by faith in Him to dwell
For I know whate'er befall me
Jesus doeth all things well
And He cheers each winding path I tread
Gives me strength for every trial
And He feeds me with the living bread
And though my weary steps may falter
And my soul a-thirst may be
Gushing from a rock before me
Count on His mercies, His strength;His grace and call on Him for His peace as He leads you along this year's path.
-- In Christ, Mike Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace. NIV
Deuteronomy 11:10-23 English Standard Version (ESV)
10 For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it,[a] like a garden of vegetables. 11 But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, 12 a land that the Lord your God cares for. The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
13 "And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 he[b] will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. 15 And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. 16 Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; 17 then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.
18 "You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 20 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. 22 For if you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him, 23 then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.
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