ESOCS Devotional 15 June 2023
MEMORY VERSE: ““When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shall be obedient unto his voice, (for the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them”. Deuteronomy 4:30-31
TEXT: DEUTERONOMY 4:25-39
25 When children shall be born to you, and children’s children, and you have grown old in the land, if you corrupt yourselves by making a graven image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God, provoking Him to anger,
26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day that you shall soon utterly perish from the land which you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it but will be utterly destroyed.
27 And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations to which the Lord will drive you.
28 There you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.
29 But if from there you will seek (inquire for and require as necessity) the Lord your God, you will find Him if you [truly] seek Him with all your heart [and mind] and soul and life.
30 When you are in tribulation and all these things come upon you, in the latter days you will turn to the Lord your God and be obedient to His voice.
31 For the Lord your God is a merciful God; He will not fail you or destroy you or forget the covenant of your fathers, which He swore to them.
32 For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from one end of the heavens to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever occurred or been heard of anywhere.
33 Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you heard, and live?
34 Or has God ever tried to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35 To you it was shown, that you might realize and have personal knowledge that the Lord is God; there is no other besides Him.
36 Out of heaven He made you hear His voice, that He might correct, discipline, and admonish you; and on earth He made you see His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire.
37 And because He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants after them, and brought you out from Egypt with His own Presence, by His mighty power,
38 Driving out nations from before you, greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day;
39 Know, recognize, and understand therefore this day and turn your [mind and] heart to it that the Lord is God in the heavens above and upon the earth beneath; there is no other.
Read Yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
Our God revealed His thoughts toward us in Jeremiah 29:11; thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give us an expected end. Turning away from the Lord is an invitation to tribulations. The unfortunate aspect is that some tend to go farther from God in an attempt to find solutions to their problems. These are the people who put their trust on the world and agents of Satan.
A true child of God can also have tribulations, just like Job in the book of Job. This can result in times of trial of our faith in God and our patience in waiting on God. (2 Thess. 1:4). Most tribulations and afflictions are caused by curses upon us or curses inherited. Whether they are upon us as a result of our faith in God or as a result of curses (directly or indirectly), the fact remains that there is a solution to the problem. As earlier mentioned, most people get the wrong approach to the solution; darkness can never dispel darkness. To dispel darkness, apply light. Turning to Satan and his agents will worsen the tribulations caused by them.
Turning to God, who is ever merciful and has promised not to forsake, destroy or forget the covenant He made with our forefathers, certainly helps us get true solution to any problem.
In turning to God, one must do it whole heartedly and with all of one’s soul. Total obedience to the word of God serves as the icing on the cake of turning completely to the Lord for solutions to our problems. This is the only way to change curses to blessings.
- Darkness added to darkness can only result to more darkness. Make the move, turn to light (Christ) for brightness to dispel any darkness in your life.
- Lord, dispel every darkness/affliction in my life today, by taking over and occupying all of me in Jesus name, Amen.
FURTHER READING: Ezekiel 33:1-9; Mark 14:26-42; Acts 7:1-16
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ESOCS Devotional 15 June 2023
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