SCRIPTURE: For the Lord your God is a merciful and compassionate God; He will not fail you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them. Deuteronomy 4:31 AMP
THOUGHT: The covenant being spoken of here is what we call The Ten Commandments. Keeping those sacred promises was the human part of the equation; being merciful and compassionate, not failing nor destroying nor forgetting was God’s part.
Way back at Mount Sinai, God promises to show “graciousness and steadfast lovingkindness to thousands [of generations] of those who love Me and keep My commandments (Ex. 20:6 AMP).” But a covenant isn’t a one-way street. We can’t hold God’s feet to the fire of keeping promises unless we are willing to keep our own.
We live in a culture that has broken the covenant and is breaking the heart of God. And, of course, you and I have broken the covenant and found the grace of Jesus Christ to restore peace with God to us. But the culture at large does not know (or agree) they are in need of grace, forgiveness, or a covenant. So God’s agreements with humans are being broken, even as they have been at other periods of history. What I see around me is a sobering picture of a culture when God begins to take his presence out, leaving only tattered ends of promises forsaken by a people who have forgotten, flapping in the breeze.
Today, take time to remember the commandments because, even if we are rescued from the law by grace, they are the heart of God and the wisdom of God for human flourishing. Remember the words of Jesus, “I have not come to abolish [the Law or the Prophets] but to fulfill them (Matt. 5:17 NIV).”
PRAYER: Oh God, remember your covenant promises, for the dark regions of the earth are full of places where violence rules (Ps. 74:20 NET). We will remember our promises as well, and gladly keep them. As the psalmist said: How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! From Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Ps. 119:103-105 AMP).
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Blogger Amy Clemens is the author of Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. In it she explores childhood sexual abuse and how it impacted her faith (or lack thereof) for four decades. You’ll find not only her story, but better yet, the Big Story of God.
Check out Walking When You’d Rather Fly, and learn more about the book and Amy’s other ministries. You will also find her devotional work at Words of Hope.
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