Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, September 20, 2026
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: In a time when we have the capacity to ensure all people on this earth are blessed with basic needs and even more, we can look at God’s promise of land and blessings through a new lens.
To a wandering tribe, land is critically important. For Abraham and his family who had been wandering the wilderness, God’s promise to establish a home for them was lifesaving. We are reading through the lens of the one to whom God promised the land; it is easy to miss that the precious land was already inhabited by Canaanites. From Abraham’s perspective, God’s gift of land was a blessing. From Canaan’s perspective, God’s interference was devastating.
Many wars throughout history have been about land. The Bible’s battles were often about finding land rich in resources for God’s people to thrive. As we look closer to home, America’s civil war was in part about land; rich landowners needed cheap (slave) labor to work their lands to remain rich. Once slavery ended in the US, many landowners went bankrupt. Their greed had emboldened them to steal more land than they could manage by themselves. Wars in the middle east and between Russia and Ukraine are about land and the rich resources the land has to offer. It means little that there are already people in the lands that the greedy seek to steal.
What’s different today is not only that there are enough resources to sustain all the people in the world, but also that we have the technological capability to distribute it. We no longer need God to displace people so that we might steal their land for its resources. God’s plan has always been to bless all the people of the earth with land, shelter, food, clothing, healthcare, and yes, even the “luxuries” of entertainment, community, financial stability, emotional wellness, and more. We all seem to have forgotten that God’s promise to Abraham was never intended to stop with Abraham.
In our current climate it can be challenging to think about this text, knowing that some of the countries the US is funding are engaging in war, in part, over land. But remember that God’s promise included blessings for the entire world.
How are you called to act to support those who are under attack for their land?
