Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments.”
NL Daily Devotion for Tuesday, September 1, 2020
by Daniel D. Maurer, Clergy Stuff
There are no atheists in foxholes, or so the old proverb goes. I think the opposite is equally as likely: there are no truly grateful people in times of peace and plenty.
When I was younger, I remember once nearly losing a dog I loved dearly. I let him off the leash to run, and when I went around the next bend expecting him to be there, he was not. I called and called, each cry becoming more desperate than the last. I made little promises to God during that time, that I would be a better person, and definitely a better dog owner to say the least. I never found him on that walk. Finally, after an hour of frantic searching, I went home, tearfully.
And there he was, wagging his tail on the porch, as if he never had left me.
Of course, I rack that up to not so much the prayers I’d whispered in desperation, but to my dog’s ability to home himself without my help. What’s funny, though, is how quickly I had forgotten the promises I’d made to God, the very next day.
People easily promise to God when nothing else seems like it might work, and we certainly forget the times of hardship when things are better again. Today’s reading is a call to remember, to remind ourselves, daily, that God is there, always. That we might live in daily relationship all the more.
God, let me never forget the hard times you brought me through. Amen.
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