Deuteronomy 6:1-36
“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, 2 so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.
Deuteronomy 31:1-6 31
When Moses had finished speaking all[a] these words to all Israel, 2 he said to them, “I am now one hundred twenty years old. I am no longer able to get about, and the Lord has told me, ‘You shall not cross over this Jordan.’ 3 The Lord your God himself will cross over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua also will cross over before you, as the Lord promised. 4 The Lord will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5 The Lord will give them over to you, and you shall deal with them in full accord with the command that I have given to you. 6 Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.”
At the end of 40 years of wilderness wanderings, which followed 400 years of slavery in Egypt, the Promised Land was becoming a reality. And it would be worth the wait.
In our “microwave world”, as we wait for four years, four months, four days, four hours, do we sometimes grow weary of waiting? Do we believe that blessings will come? Sometimes we need to look to a calendar rather than a watch when we think faith.
Prayer
God give me patience (and give it now.) Help me to listen, read, wait, and trust that your promise to me will indeed come true. Amen.
Deuteronomy 31:7-8
7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and bold, for you are the one who will go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their ancestors to give them, and you will put them in possession of it. 8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.
