A Little On the Dumb Side!

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the people of Israel to bring you twelve wooden staffs, one from each leader of Israel’s ancestral tribes, and inscribe each leader’s name on his staff.  Inscribe Aaron’s name on the staff of the tribe of Levi, for there must be one staff for the leader of each ancestral tribe.  Place these staffs in the Tabernacle in front of the Ark containing the tablets of the Covenant, where I meet with you.  Buds will sprout on the staff belonging to the man I choose.  Then I will finally put an end to the people’s murmuring and complaining against you.”  So Moses gave the instructions to the people of Israel, and each of the twelve tribal leaders, including Aaron, brought Moses a staff.  Moses placed the staffs in the Lord’s presence in the Tabernacle of the Covenant.  When he went into the Tabernacle of the Covenant the next day, he found that Aaron’s staff, representing the tribe of Levi, had sprouted, budded, blossomed, and produced ripe almonds!  When Moses brought all the staffs out from the Lord’s presence, he showed them to the people.  Each man claimed his own staff.  And the Lord said to Moses: “Place Aaron’s staff permanently before the Ark of the Covenant to serve as a warning to rebels.  This should put an end to their complaints against me and prevent any further deaths.”  So Moses did as the Lord commanded him.  Then the people of Israel said to Moses, “Look, we are doomed!  We are dead!  We are ruined!  Everyone who even comes close to the Tabernacle of the Lord dies.  Are we all doomed to die?”  Numbers 17:1-13

If there is one consistent theme in Scripture about the people of God it’s their inconsistency (with a few notable exceptions).  It’s like that New Year’s resolution you make about eating less, working-out more, and avoiding driving past Krispy Kreme; the vow lasts until the next temptation arrives.  And so it goes.

The next temptation for Israel was always grumbling about the way they were led; the target of their grumbling was all about the leader, Moses, a humble man. But over and again God had demonstrated Moses was the leader.  Even with a dead stick budding, blooming, and producing ripe almonds, all in the space of one night[1], demonstrating God’s leadership choice, God’s gracious miracle only produced fear in the hearts of the people.  And fear will destroy any faith!

Such is the point of this account.  Time after time God’s people were in a crisis and God rescued them from danger; each time there was immediate relief, but the return to fear and grumbling (with its accompanying unbelief, or lack of faith) arrived within nanoseconds. 

And so it goes…even today.

This problem is not a particularly Jewish thing; it’s endemic to humanity.  It started with the first sin in the Garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve took a bite, realized their separation from God, heard the Lord approaching, and they hid!  They hid because of their shame, knowing (as fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil suggests), that they were now less than they were created to be, and had separated themselves from God.  And what were they hiding from?  The Lord, the solution to their problem.  And what did they do about it when busted for their sins?  They offered excuses trying to deflect their responsibility to others:

      Eve:  The serpent tricked me 

      Adam:  Lord, the woman YOU made, gave me that bite.  And so it goes.

For You Today 

The question of the day (and of the ages) is…when we’ve seen how that worked-out for Adam and Eve, why do we join them in that foolishness?  All it produces is more fear and grumbling.  When fear arises, it kills your faith.  Wouldn’t it save a myriad of trouble and heartache to live in faith, and let it destroy your fears?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Title Image Pixabay.com  Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] It takes one year after a bush has matured (3-4 years) to produce the first crop – see Nav Athwal article Forbes

God's Generals

Tuesday, October 3, 2023

This day’s lectionary readings display three major characters in Scripture, King David, Moses, and Paul, and the ministry difficulties they faced.  Each passage focuses on their struggle with adversaries, and showcases the model for effective, Christ-honoring servant-leadership.  We can learn from each of them.

King David had his life threatened constantly.  It seemed that often the threats were going to be successful.  David’s first public act was as a young boy standing up to Goliath.  Ever the underdog, God prospered the young man from Jesse’s household.  David suffered bouts of self-doubt and fearing the worst (who could be confident when chased by an army?).  But faith returned again and again.  Listen to an older David’s heart:

Why am I discouraged?  Why is my heart so sad?  I will put my hope in God!  I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!  Psalm 42:11

Moses led Israel out of Egyptian bondage, and he had more than his share of adversaries who wanted to turn back.  Holding court for peanut-sized issues took all day.  Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, saw how Moses was being worn-out with settling minor disputes and problems, and advised him to find Godly leaders to help shoulder the load.  Moses took Jethro’s advice and diligently built a structure to honor God’s ways, and keep God’s people focused on the mission.

Moses listened to his father-in-law’s advice and followed his suggestions.  He chose capable men from all over Israel and appointed them as leaders over the people.  Exodus 18:24-25a

Paul is the poster child for leaders with critics who were trying to undermine and siderail his ministry.  The most glaring example were those who preached the Gospel out of envy for Paul’s success.  They thought that building their own following would put Paul to shame.  They wanted him to rot in prison.  Paul’s letter to the Philippian believers was his response, the selfless, Christ-focused answer of the ages:

Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ.  They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me.  But that doesn’t matter.  Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice….For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past.  And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die.  For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.  Philippians 1:17-18, 20-21

For You Today 

The models of Moses, David, and Paul take personal hardships and transform them into mirrors which reflect God’s power and goodness.  All who lead in God’s family should make it a life-goal to do the same.

·       Like David, learn to put fears and worries in the rear-view mirror.

·       Like Moses, listen to sound advice from elders who love God.

·       Like Paul, trust and lean on God’s decision about the future, and continue serving until he calls you home.

It’s safe ground to follow the leadership style of God’s choice vessels.  If you’re going to lead in God’s army, study His best Generals.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Title Image(s) courtesy of Wikimedia.com (see each individual picture for link to source)                   

Images without citation are in public domain.  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

Bitter Water

Thursday, September 21, 2023

Then Moses led the people of Israel away from the Red Sea, and they moved out into the desert of Shur.  They traveled in this desert for three days without finding any water.  When they came to the oasis of Marah, the water was too bitter to drink.  So they called the place Marah (which means “bitter”).  Then the people complained and turned against Moses.  “What are we going to drink?” they demanded.  So Moses cried out to the Lord for help, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood.  Moses threw it into the water, and this made the water good to drink.  It was there at Marah that the Lord set before them the following decree as a standard to test their faithfulness to him.  He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.”   Exodus 15:22-26

The children of Israel had water issues.  When they were running away from Egypt, they were stuck with too much water, the Red Sea, preventing them from getting to the Promised Land.  The Egyptian storm troopers were hot on their heels, and God parted the waters so they could walk through dust, instead of swimming (and mostly drowning).  Three days later they had the opposite issue – no water.  They complained and Moses led them to Marah…where the water was unhealthy, bitter.  God fixed that by purifying the water.  Further on in the journey they were dry once again, and God brought forth water from a rock. 

I had my own issues with a water valve this week.  The plumber came right away and did another miracle, fixed it, and charged me less than the cost of a Buick!

Normally I write in the early morning hours.  Yesterday was an exception.  I started the day by getting my dog settled with his business, and carrying him to that spot he occupies right next to my desk.  I began to write when dawn was just breaking.  Elizabeth opened the study door and the pitiful sight of my bride in pain was worse than Israel’s drought on the run.  We immediately got in the car and went to the Emergency Room.  Around three o’clock we found out she had pancreatitis, along with a secondary infection.  An hour later she was admitted and settled into a room.  It is now 8:22pm, I’ve just had supper; it’s been a day!

So what does all that have to do with Marah’s bitter water?  Well, I’m glad you asked.  Today’s events were much like Israel’s Marah experience.  When they were back in Egypt as slaves, they could at least count on having water to drink from the beautiful river Nile.  Out in the desert life became uncertain, uncontrollable.  Today reminded me of that…my sweet bride, usually smiley and always on the lookout for our family…now helplessly rubbing her side, and not wanting to do anything but be left alone.  And Russell, helpless, unable to do anything like Superman, leaping tall buildings, stopping speeding bullets; I had no way to take away her hurt.  All I could do was just sit by the bitter water of pain.  I’m not sure how many people prayed for us today; I do know my phone looked like an exhausted little puppy when the battery died.  Tons of people responded to our Facebook post, and the word spread.  When I left Elizabeth’s room at 6:30 this evening she was smiling, and looking forward to coming home tomorrow.  The doc had said, “we’ll see,” but I know that look in the woman’s eye.

So…time to wrap it up and get some sleep.  My day was planned to write.  Pain had other ideas…and like too much water at the Red Sea, too little water in the desert, and bitter water at Marah, I got frazzled and saw my weakness.  But God had the answer…even before I asked.

For You Today 

Whatever you’ve got going on today, remember where the well is located.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library. 

Title Image(s) courtesy of Pixabay.com

Images without citation are in public domain.  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

Contagious Faith

Monday, September 18, 2023

It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command.  It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin.  He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.  It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger.  He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.  It was by faith that Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the Passover and to sprinkle blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death would not kill their firstborn sons.  It was by faith that the people of Israel went right through the Red Sea as though they were on dry ground.  But when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were all drowned.  Hebrews 11:23-29

The entire life of Moses is encapsulated in the word “faith”.  And yet the story of Moses’ life is not primarily about one man’s faith, but rather how faith is honored by God’s validation, and passed along to others who need to know a faithful God.  Moses is the story of contagious faith.

A man who helped pass along the faith to me when I was still in elementary school described how one “acquires” faith as more like plunging-into, rather than grabbing it, as you would pick up a baseball bat.  This is because a bat becomes your possession; plunging-into faith means you’re surrounded by it, possessed by its essence, and carried along where it will lead.  Read the Exodus account, and you will see that is so in the way Moses led and encouraged Israel.

The process with Moses grew and tested his faith throughout his life.  Born to Hebrew parents, released to God’s care in a basket floating down the Nile, found and adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter, and raised in the palaces of Egypt’s dynasty as a prince, Moses eventually discovered his heritage and turned his back on the riches of Pharaoh’s kingdom, in favor of the suffering he would find with slaves.

This image, and how the writer to the Hebrews casts it, brings into view one further analogy from baseball’s core:  keeping your eye on the ball.  Anyone who has ever had a baseball coach has heard those words.  When you step up to the plate for your turn at bat, it’s with the intention of hitting the ball so you can run the bases.  It is easy to get distracted with the crowd cheering (or booing).  The catcher will engage you in conversation if he can, to keep you from concentrating on hitting the ball.  The pitcher hides the ball until the moment of release, so you can’t see what he’s up to.  The sun can get in your eyes, or the waving trees beyond the fence can draw your attention from the one task for which you’ve practiced, learned, and are standing there facing nine opposing players…to smack that ball into the middle of next week.  And it won’t happen if you don’t keep your focus on that little white ball with red-stiches holding it together, screaming towards home plate at 80-90 miles-per-hour.  Keep your eye on the ball!

For You Today 

Keep your eye on the ball.  This is what faith whispered in Moses’ ear when the crunch time arrived.  Would it be a life of luxury, served on a gold platter in Pharaoh’s house…or a hard walk in slave sandals?  The “ball” in this case was a question that every person on planet earth must answer eventually:  Who are you going to serve?  If you want to serve Pharaoh, with this world’s approval and treasures, you will not serve the King of Glory.  Jesus has the last word on that:

No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”  Luke 16:13

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library. 

Images without citation are in public domain.  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

The Tenth Plague

Tuesday, September 12, 2023

And that night at midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn son of the prisoner in the dungeon.  Even the firstborn of their livestock were killed.  Pharaoh and all his officials and all the people of Egypt woke up during the night, and loud wailing was heard throughout the land of Egypt.  There was not a single house where someone had not died.  Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron during the night.  “Get out!” he ordered.  “Leave my people—and take the rest of the Israelites with you!  Go and worship the Lord as you have requested.  Take your flocks and herds, as you said, and be gone. Go, but bless me as you leave.”  All the Egyptians urged the people of Israel to get out of the land as quickly as possible, for they thought, “We will all die!”  Exodus 12:29-33

Over the course of time from Moses’ first meeting with Pharaoh to deliver God’s message to let my people go, the Egyptian monarch moved from dismissive stubbornness to defeated sadness.  He was Pharaoh over the most powerful dynasty in the world, and he conceded defeat to the slaves he owned.  Considering the events of the 10 plagues, who could remain fixed in his own glory?  Pharaoh was pushed into the most uncomfortable tenuous corner.  There was no command he could issue with his own firstborn on the mortician’s table.

Most of the plagues are not uncommon, even in our day.  Pestilences and plagues are something every human faces in every era; we’ve just come through Covid-19, and what other age hasn’t dealt with similar challenges.  Famine caused by pests and weather are common also.  But the first and last of the plagues are the most pointed; the first should have been enough, and the last, too much.

Of the ten plagues (Blood, Frogs, Lice, Flies, Pestilence, Boils, Hail, Locusts, Darkness, Killing of the firstborn), the first plague of blood in the Nile, struck at Egypt’s religious beliefs.  The Nile river was Egypt’s source of food.  Turning it into blood was a horrifying demonstration of how vulnerable they were to having life crumble before them.  Pharaoh thought he was a god, but God was demonstrating how little divinity flowed through Pharaoh’s human veins. 

The next eight plagues were nuisances to Pharaoh, because they only affected Egypt’s people and resources.  But with each step closer to the tenth plague, Pharaoh’s stubbornness brought his people closer to the kind of unspeakable judgment which no Egyptian citizen could even imagine.  And then it happened!

The tenth plague, the death of firstborns in each Egyptian household, was connected to the first plague in the sense that there was blood.  Life is in the blood[1] according to Scripture, and blood in the Nile was a threat to the lives of Egyptian food sources, and the emptiness of their religious superstitions.  But it was a foretaste of the tenth plague, the lifeblood of their heritage.  As attested by the pyramids, the afterlife, and continued heritage of Pharaohic divine rule was as important to those people as their next breath.  In the instant Pharaoh refused God’s 10^th invitation to let His people go, the Egyptian king became the murderer of Egypt’s firstborn population – including his own household!

For You Today 

God’s recorded Word is there to help us understand how to live in His Kingdom, and how to understand His ways:

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.  2 Timothy 3:16

So, do what Pharaoh refused; when God speaks…listen…and obey!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library. 

Title Images:  Wikimedia.org   Images without citation are in public domain. Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] The life of every creature is in its blood.  Leviticus 17:14

When Moses Sat at the Well

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Many years later, when Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his own people, the Hebrews, and he saw how hard they were forced to work.  During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Hebrews.  After looking in all directions to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand.  The next day, when Moses went out to visit his people again, he saw two Hebrew men fighting.  “Why are you beating up your friend?” Moses said to the one who had started the fight.  The man replied, “Who appointed you to be our prince and judge?  Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?”  Then Moses was afraid, thinking, “Everyone knows what I did.”  And sure enough, Pharaoh heard what had happened, and he tried to kill Moses.  But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian.  When Moses arrived in Midian, he sat down beside a well.  Exodus 2:11-15

Even people with a marginal connection with church and Scripture know of Moses’ great events, dividing the waters, getting more water to gush from a rock, the Ten Commandments, and so-on.  But today’s text takes us back to long-before the hero stuff. 

The context is that Moses has just found out his true heritage is Hebrew, not Egyptian.  When, at age 40, you find out your whole history has been hidden from you, it’s bound to produce a crisis, filled with poor knee-jerk reaction choices.  For the one chosen by God to lead Israel out of bondage, that is an understatement.  Before he even begins to understand the culture from which he was bred, Moses begins to use the power-tactics of Egyptian taskmasters to right the wrongs of Egyptian domination…killing, threats, and totalitarian bondage.  He was wrong.

As a result, Moses finds himself banished to the wilderness.  He arrives at Midian and sits down at the well, where he meets Zipporah, whom he eventually marries, and it leads him to all the hero-stuff when he starts doing things God’s way. 

But, for this moment, let’s look down the deep well where Moses was sitting.  It wasn’t a new age reflecting pool…this was a life-giving watering hole for sheep.  But for Moses it was the needed rest from fleeing Pharoah’s threats.  We can only imagine the thoughts running through Moses’ mind as he looks down the hole:

·       Oh…I’ve really messed it up!

·       Life will never be the same.

·       What was I thinking?

In all transparency, this is exactly what I have said at times.  In retrospect, each time I’ve gone to that well, it was always after a period of failing to do things God’s way.   And I think that is always God’s way…He leads us through the wilderness of wondering to give us time to pray, understand our wrong direction, and repent.  That took 40 more years for Moses, but at the end, the bush burned brightly, and he learned to say:  thus saith the Lord, instead of, listen to me! 

As with Robert Frost’s poem about two roads diverging in a yellow forest, Moses eventually took the one less traveled by, and that…made all the difference.

For You Today 

For any of us who truly admits what we find when we stare down the well of our history, the road less-traveled is always God’s way.  In our disobedience we find He dips into the cool, life-giving water, and offers us a better way.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library. 

Title Image:  Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

Holy Ground

Friday, May 5, 2023

One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian.  He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God.  There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush.  Moses stared in amazement.  Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up.  “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself.  “Why isn’t that bush burning up?  I must go see it.”  When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”  “Here I am!” Moses replied.  “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned.  “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.  I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”  When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.  Then the Lord told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt.  I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers.  Yes, I am aware of their suffering.  So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land.  It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live.  Look!  The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them.  Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.”  But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh?  Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?”  God answered, “I will be with you.  And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you:  When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.”  Exodus 3:1-12

Moses is both a much-revered and enigmatic part of God’s revelation to us.  Born the son of an enslaved Hebrew couple, destined to die in a political power move, his mother put him in a basket made of reeds, and set him adrift near the palace of their oppressor.  The Pharaoh’s daughter rescued the baby and raised him in the palace as her own.  By the time Moses is 40, he discovers his heritage, Jew, not Egyptian.  He gets himself banished from Pharaoh’s good favor when he kills an Egyptian who was beating a fellow Jew.  Forty years later, as a humble shepherd, minding the sheep of his father-in-law in the Midian desert, the back side of nowhere, Moses meets God.  The man whose life could have easily been snuffed-out (more than once) by the king of Egypt, yet bravely defied him to defend the very people Pharaoh had enslaved, is now humbled by a burning bush, and a disembodied voice, claiming to be God. 

Another forty years passes in the miracle of the birth of a newly-freed nation, and the subsequent divine hand of God leading them through crises and victories.  In all, Moses kept his eye on the goal…bringing God’s chosen to a place of worship.  God had made it plain:  When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.

For You Today 

Moses, the man, the hero, understood his job was not to be a hero, but a tool in the hand of God, to bless the nations of God’s creation.  His earlier quest to know God led to an opportunity to serve God, and Moses surrendered his life in that service to honor the God who inhabits holy ground.

So, here’s a thought to grapple with today:

What would YOUR burning bush look like?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   Is That Enough?  and  Just When...   

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Carried to His Sanctuary

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

“Who is like you among the gods, O Lord—glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, performing great wonders?  You raised your right hand, and the earth swallowed our enemies.  “With your unfailing love you lead the people you have redeemed.  In your might, you guide them to your sacred home.  The peoples hear and tremble; anguish grips those who live in Philistia.  The leaders of Edom are terrified; the nobles of Moab tremble.  All who live in Canaan melt away; terror and dread fall upon them.  The power of your arm makes them lifeless as stone until your people pass by, O Lord, until the people you purchased pass by.  You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain—the place, O Lord, reserved for your own dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.  The Lord will reign forever and ever!”  Exodus 15:11-18

This text is part of the victory song Moses and the Israelites sang after God saved them from the pursuing Egyptian army.  Earlier, the former slaves, numbering perhaps six-hundred-thousand, had left Egypt and were contemplating updating their wills at the edge of the Red Sea.  There were impassable mountains to the left and right of them, death by drowning in front of them, and death by Egyptian swords behind.  They were (literally) between two rocks, a watery grave, and an angry army.  One raised staff later, they crossed that sea on dry land, saved by the breath of God.  Pharoah’s army…not so blessed.

This account of Israel’s rescue and open doorway to the Promised Land, is a foretaste of your journey.  As Moses and the children were carried by God’s loving hand to Canaan, so we are bound for the Promised Land of New Jerusalem.

The world’s libraries are full of stories of victory snatched from the jaws of evil and defeat.  Every one of them is a reminder of God’s strong right arm.  The bad guy is holding all the power, and the innocent ones are about to be toast.  At the last second the one wearing the white hat shows up to rescue the powerless.

Why, do you suppose, that plot is so familiar?  Why is every suspense movie built around the sinister plans of a despicably vicious madman?  I believe it is God’s way of keeping us connected to the world we cannot see.  There is, and always has been, a spiritual war raging for the souls of human beings.  Ever since the day Satan walked into God’s throne room and laid-down the challenge gauntlet over the soul of Job[1], Satan has craved control of every man, woman, and child.  God has offered his strong right hand of support to each of us to resist.  And God gives each of us the free will to choose to accept His help, or not.

For You Today 

Today, in some small (or large) way, a subtle (or fully-disclosed) way, you will face a temptation to step away from God, or God’s open invitation to His waiting arms.  Satan will pave a highway with gold and ease to an eternity of suffering and shame.  God will offer you the nail-scarred, rough hands of a carpenter/shepherd to lift you over the temptation and carry you all the way to His sanctuary.

The words echo eternally – choose carefully.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   Yahweh  and  Fountain Joy  

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] Read the oldest Biblical account of Job as the center of the contest here:  Job 1:1-2:10