READING: Deuteronomy 9-11; Luke 1:1-38
How much do you think about God’s grace toward you?
In today’s reading, God would bring His people into the Promised Land, but his reason for doing so was not because they were righteous: “Understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people” (Deut. 9:6). Instead, God would give them the land to keep His promise to Abraham and to carry out judgment on wicked nations in the land. That is, God would keep His Word because He knew the greater plan He wanted to accomplish.
This story relates to ancient Hebrews, but it speaks of us as well. We have many blessings, but none of them have come to us because we are righteous. Rather, we have them because God loves us, blesses us, and expects us to be both grateful and humble. We’re blessed because God keeps His word to us even when we don’t always keep our Word to Him.
PRAYER: “Lord, I can only thank You for Your kindness to me.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Deuteronomy 12-14; Luke 1:39-66