The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Exodus 33:14
The Promised Land
Daily Devotion – July 7, 2018
Devotion based on Exodus 33:14
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The Lord had rescued his people from slavery in Egypt. The people had fashioned a calf-shaped idol out of gold, Egyptian style, and worshiped it. The Lord had punished them. Now what? The road to the Promised Land was forty years long, and they would have to travel through desert, wilderness the whole way.
Maybe you, too, have paid a heavy price for something you’ve done. Maybe you still feel the effects. Where do you turn when the burden of your sin weighs heavily upon you? We may think that if we stay busy, we will forget the burden we carry. We may turn to recreation and entertainment to anesthetize our pain. These are only band-aids for wounds that run soul deep.
Listen to what the Lord says to his Old Testament people in today’s reading. He says, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” The Lord is present with you, just as he was present with them. The Lord has rest for you, just as he had rest for them. God’s Son Jesus knows exactly what your burden of sin feels like. He carried it all the way to the cross, together with the sin of everyone who has ever lived, and that’s where he left it. This is no band-aid. This is the Lord of all lifting a ton of weight off of your soul; this is your Savior dealing with guilt-burdened hearts at the source of all guilt. Jesus became sin for you. In him, you have rest for your soul.
The road through your wilderness may be long, but you aren’t traveling alone. Jesus is here for you in God’s Word every step of the way. He’s here for you with his soul-saving message of forgiveness, of rest. Jesus will also be there for you at the end of the road, to welcome you into the Promised Land.
Prayer:
Dear Savior, refresh me in the forgiveness you won for me and all people. Give me strength for the journey ahead. Amen.
This devotion was selected from the Daily Devotion archive.
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