My family and I spend a vacation every year camping in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We enjoy the scenes, waters, peace and quiet, as well as the wildlife we experience there. I have often imagined what it must have been like for the people who first traveled through those rugged mountains blazing the trails so that my family and I could enjoy the beautiful settings. In today’s Scripture reading, we see where God blazed the trail into the Promised Land for the Israelites.
In Deuteronomy 9:3, we see where God went into the land, devouring the Anakites before the Israelites arrived to keep them safe and to fulfill his promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by giving them the land. God didn’t do this to reward Israel for their obedience – on the contrary, they disobeyed several times on the journey. God did this because he loves his people, and always keeps his promises. God has also promised to go before us when we face trials that are beyond our control. He knows what we are facing and has already blazed a trail for us through the wilderness of our lives to keep us safe and to show us the way. Not because we have earned it, but because he loves us and has promised to never forsake us. What he does require is our love, worship, faith and a willingness to follow his will. Give your troubles to God — he has already made a way for you.
Dear heavenly Father, thank you for always being ahead of me no matter where life leads. Thank you for preparing a way for me through my trials if I follow your footsteps. You are mightier than anything I face. I love you, Lord, and praise your holy, precious name. In Jesus name, Amen.
Cindy Earp, Lenoir, N.C.
Extended Scripture: Deuteronomy 9–10 (NIV)
