This has to be my absolute favorite chapter in the whole book of Deuteronomy. I guess it's because God gave this chapter to me during a dry season in my life (around the time I was turning 40), as He reminded me that allow He's allowed me to travel through the barren wilderness, He has and it hasn't always been easy (it's actually been very humbling)... yet it's been good for me, because He has been teaching me what it means to live by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. (That's why my next book, if I can ever finish writing it, will be titled Daring to Live by Every Word.) God reminded me in this passage that although I can't see the destination to my journey, He truly is bringing me into a good land. And it's beautiful... a place where I will never be thirsty (because He is my water) and where I will never lack bread (because He is my living bread).
You know, I think it's those chapters in the Bible that God brings to us in the midst of hardship and heartache that often stick with us the most as we journey through life. And this is one of those chapters for me! (So much significance in this chapter for me that I'm not even going to delve into here, because it's too personal.)
I just want to share a brief marginal quote I have in my Bible from the writings of Ellen White when it comes to understanding what it means to live by every Word.
"Holiness is not rapture: it is an entire surrender of the will to God; it is living by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God; it is doing the will of our heavenly Father; it strutting God in trial, in darkness as well as in the light; it is walking by faith and not by sight; it is relying on God with unquestioning confidence, and resting in His love." Acts of the Apostles, p. 51So beautiful. Whenever I'm weary or discouraged, or struggling with my faith as I can't see what God is doing, I often turn to Deuteronomy 8. This chapter is not just for me though. It's for all of us!
Tomorrow's Reading: Deut. 10-11 and Romans 1
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