GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

 

“For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand.  He knows your trudging through this great wilderness.  These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.” (Deuteronomy 2:7)

If you are not acquainted with the words of that grand old hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” you ought to be.  It is based on the text in Lamentations 3:22-23,

Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not. 

 They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness. 

In our text for today’s devotional, Moses echoes that same refrain.  Moses is 120 and facing death.  He rehearses God’s faithfulness to a new generation of Israelites who will cross Jordan and enter the Promised Land.

GOD HAS BEEN FAITHFUL IN HIS PROVISION, “For the LORD your God has blessed you…you have lacked nothing.”  God gave them bread from heaven—manna every morning.  In the desert, he gave them water from a rock.  Their clothing and sandals did not wear out.  They were sheltered from the sun by day by the cloud, which became a pillar of fire to light and warm the camp by night.  I have come to the place where my hair has turned white as a morning frost, where I start the day with a groan and end it with a sigh, where my steps are neither as swift nor steady as in youth, and I can actually access my retirement funds!  Despite all the challenges aging brings, I can face tomorrow without fear, for I have see God’s faithfulness in the past.  I am not a rich man, by any means, but God has always blessed me with enough—more than enough!

GOD HAS BEEN FAITHFUL IN HIS PROVIDENCE, “He knows your trudging through this great wilderness.”  Trudging—that is a picturesque term, which describes my gait so well!  Life is tough.  The Jews journey through that great wilderness was filled with difficulty and fraught with danger.  There were some stumbles and setbacks on the way, but trudge on they did, because God was leading His dear children along.  That is what providence is all about.  God knows the way we travel; He sees ahead the road we are taking; He has a predetermined end for our pilgrimage.  What God knows of the future is fixed and certain, but what we know is by faith and conviction.  We live life forward, but we understand it backward.  Surveying my life story leads me to testify that God has directed my steps and gives me confidence He will guide me into the future.

GOD HAS BEEN FAITHFUL IN HIS PRESENCE, “These forty years the LORD your God has been with you….”  In all places and at all times, God had been with them.  They failed Him, but He did not fail them.  As we get older, things change.  Friends and family we have known begin to die—the circle of relationships shrinks here and grows larger in heaven.  The unchanging God has promised to never leave us, nor forsake us!  If our path takes us into the hospital, the nursing home, or hospice as a prelude to the funeral home, God will shelter us in His arms and secure us in His love.  “Great Is Thy faithfulness!” is our testimony now and will be our theme forever!