Through most of my academic career, I refused to use Cliffs Notes. And then I had to read Crime and Punishment (a fitting title!). I read the entire book, but the Cliffs Notes helped me capture the gist of it and review the key elements before testing.
Have you ever wondered what the Cliffs Notes of your life will look like?
In the whole span of your life, what at the key moments, days and milestones that will mark your history--or at least the Cliffs Notes version?
In today's passage, Moses gave a sermon to the Israelites that I saw as the Cliffs Notes version of their time in the desert. There were several great and several terrible moments in the message. But God was present through it all. I particularly liked this section describing Moses' response to the 12 spies who first viewed the Promised Land:
I tried to relieve your fears: "Don't be terrified of them.
God, your God, is leading the way;
he's fighting for you.
You saw with your own eyes what he did for you in Egypt;
you saw what he did in the wilderness, how God,
your God, carried you as a father carries his child,
carried you the whole way until you arrived here.
But now that you're here, you won't trust God, your God—
this same God who goes ahead of you in your travels
to scout out a place to pitch camp,
a fire by night and a cloud by day to show you the way to go."
I love what Moses was doing here--reminding the people of God's faithfulness in their own lives. We all need those reminders periodically! God is always there, but in certain moments, we doubt Him.
I hope that in the Cliffs Notes version of my life, there is more faith than fear, less doubt and more trust--because someday, I want people to see God in those Cliffs Notes.
Tomorrow: Deuteronomy 3-4
No comments:
Post a Comment