Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Even if you are exiled to the ends of the world, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back. ”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, September 29, 2022
by Daniel D. Maurer, Clergy Stuff
A standard feature in Deuteronomy is a promise of prosperity, but also a promise of curses. It’s important to take the historical setting into consideration: God’s people had disobeyed; God continually calls them back into the fold with the stipulation of following the law.
As a modern, it strikes me as a bit simple minded that God would place these ongoing conditions on the people. After all, didn’t God realize that they were only going to break the laws God had already set forth, once again?
However, the key passage in verse four is telling—God will never abandon the people, no matter to what ends of the earth they are scattered. It is comforting to know that you’re never going to be abandoned. As children, a great fear we all have is our parents leaving us, or getting lost in a crowd.
God, as our heavenly parent, will never abandon us. God only asks that we listen for the eternal voice, and that we follow where it leads us.
We thank you, God, that you gather us up into your arms, holding us tight, that we might follow your lead to remain near. Amen.
