READING:
One-year plan: Numbers 12-15
Two-year plan: Job 11-12, Acts 20:7-16
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It is so easy to get consumed by the circumstances of life and fail to see God in the midst of them. Think about it . . . health issues. . . wayward children. . . financial struggles. . . natural disasters. . . fighting congregations. . . God-disrespecting culture . . . and on and on. We look around, and it feels like the church is losing the battle to darkness. In our own lives, we at times wonder where God is when His answers to prayer are delayed or non-existent.
Circumstances get the best of us sometimes.
The Hebrews on the brink of the Promised Land faced and lost this same battle. Twelve spies entered the land, and the majority were convinced they could not take the land God had already promised them. The giants in the land seemed too numerous and too large—and consequently in the eyes of the Hebrews, it was better to choose a new leader and head back to bondage in Egypt. God apparently seemed far too small to take them farther.
That’s what happens when we focus our attention on our circumstances: we allow them to dwarf the size of God. In the light of our worries and concerns, we reduce God to something far less than what He is.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Are you consumed by circumstances today?
DAILY PRAYER: “God, help me to keep my eyes on You no matter what I face.”
TOMORROW’S READINGS:
One-year plan: Numbers 16-18
Two-year plan: Job 13-14, Acts 20:17-38
MEMORIZATION VERSE (Feb 16-28):
“O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” (2 Chron 20:12)
*portions first published in 2018
