The Answer to Fear

Daily Reading: Deuteronomy 5

Scripture Focus: Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever! (Deuteronomy 5:29)

Devotional Thought: While God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, the rest of the Israelites waited at the bottom of the mountain for Moses to return. Their experience terrified them. They couldn’t believe that Moses had spoken with God and lived to tell about it. After hearing his voice from a distance - out of the midst of the fire that descended upon the mountain - they could no longer bear it. "For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die" (v. 25).

The Lord responded to the plea and the terror of the people through Moses, telling the people that they are right in what they have spoken – they are right to be fearful of their God! Then he told them that he wanted it to stay that way! "Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!" The Lord loved them despite their unworthiness, despite knowing that they would stray from his covenant.

When we are walking with the Lord in obedience, do we hear the same longing from our Father? In our walk with Christ, we will go through periods of growth as well as periods of stagnation. Do you hear the Father’s cry? Oh that we would have such hearts as this always! He wants to spiritually bless and prosper us, but it requires a heart of faith and obedience.

Lord, help us to walk ever closer to you!

-Jenny

Prayer: Lord, we know that, like the children of Israel, we stray from your will and your presence. Help us to desire, above all other things, communion with you. Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 12.1-8

Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man. 2 Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts, 4 those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?”

5 “Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.” 6 The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.

7 You, O Lord, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever. 8 On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man.