Prayer – Lord, I am relying on You for safety in our drinking water. Just like You took care of the children of Israel as they were in the wilderness and they grumbled about not having water,
Then Moses led the people of Israel away from the Red
Sea, and they moved out into the desert of Shur. They traveled in this desert
for three days without finding any water. When they came to the oasis of Marah,
the water was too bitter to drink. So they called the place Marah (which means
"bitter"). Then the people complained and turned against Moses.
"What are we going to drink?" they demanded. So Moses cried out to
the LORD for help, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. Moses threw it into
the water, and this made the water good to drink. It was there at Marah that
the LORD set before them the following decree as a standard to test their
faithfulness to him. He said, "If you will listen carefully to the voice
of the LORD your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands
and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the
diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you." Exodus
15:22-26
Meditate. Consider God’s protection for His people.
The water was too bitter to drink. Complain. Complain.
Complain. Moses had to listen to those grumbling Israelites over and over. They
just couldn’t be content with what they had. Freedom. God’s love, mercy, guidance,
and His preference for them over any other nations. They were His chosen people
and they still are. Will He protect those He loves and those who serve Him? He
not only will…He continually does protect. He declared here in Exodus that He
is the Lord who heals. He hasn’t forgotten His promise of so long ago. He
repeats this in the New Testament.
As the Scriptures
say, "I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor, and
anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced." Yes, you who trust him
recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him, "The
stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone." And,
"He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them
fall." They stumble because they do not obey God's word, and so they meet
the fate that was planned for them. But you are not like that, for you are a
chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God's very own possession.
As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of
the darkness into his wonderful light. "Once you had no identity as a
people; now you are God's people. Once you received no mercy; now you have
received God's mercy." 1 Peter 2:6-10
Choose to listen and obey God’s word. We each have the
choice…day by cay. Choose God. Choose His will and His ways. Listen and obey.
Verses of Salvation ~ But thank God! He has made us his
captives and continues to lead us along in Christ's triumphal procession. Now
he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.
Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is
perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are
perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and
doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who
is adequate for such a task as this? 2 Corinthians 2:14-16
Sweet fragrance of a rose.
Friday’s Feast at the King’s Table
Don’t eat the fish…and for sure don’t drink the water.
This may be
another summer of toxic water alerts for the algae blooms in the Columbia
River. Not what any of us wanted to hear this week!
A couple of dogs died last summer playing in the
water of the Columbia River near Richland, Washington. The water looked normal,
but it had a toxic algae bloom. So very sad for those dog owners…but even more
tragic if it had been children. The public has now been warned to be aware of
conditions that could cause the algae bloom. Water that is used for public
drinking water will be tested in three or four cities weekly. Don’t play in the
water…don’t eat the fish…don’t drink the water. You’ve been warned.
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless
otherwise noted.
New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale
House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream,
Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.
Books by Mickey M.
Hunacek
Available as e-books or paperbacks at Amazon.com
Parenting Day By Day - Daily Devotional for Building Character
Coins in the Bible: New Testament Stories
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