Pass It On!
October 1
Psalm 145:1-8
“Glorious splendor…majesty…wonderful works…awesome works…abundant goodness.” Our psalm for today is filled with superlative declarations of who God is. No wonder one generation would pass on this good news to subsequent generations!
This spring, my wife and I traveled from Texas to the small rural community in northwest Kansas where her maternal forebears were homesteaders. We laid flowers on the gravestones of three generations of Noren relatives, including her parents. We were reminded of previous generations of women and men who had proclaimed the good news of God’s great deeds (v. 6) to us, and so also, we to our own children. This week we will reflect on God’s “mighty acts” (v. 4) and his “awesome works” (v. 6) through God’s deliverance of his people from bondage in Egypt through the exodus.
Mighty God, thank you for your wondrous deeds of salvation! Help us to be faithful in telling your story to the generations that come behind us. AMEN.
PRAYER FOCUS: AWARENESS OF GOD’S PRESENCE
Deliverance
MONDAY, October 2
Exodus 12:1-14
Growing up, we were never much of a moviegoing family, but I do vividly remember seeing The Great Escape, the epic drama of World War II Allied prisoners’ ingenious attempt to tunnel out of a Nazi POW camp.
The children of Israel had been held captive in Egypt in forced labor for much longer than those POWs. God had a plan of deliverance by means of the blood of the sacrificial lamb on the doorframes of their homes. The Passover lamb and the rescue of God’s people has been the deliverance story passed on among the Jewish people for three and half millennium. Some 2,000 years ago, John the Baptist saw Jesus at the outset of his public ministry and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” It is Jesus’s blood shed on the cross that delivers all humankind from the bondage of sin’s deadly grip on our lives.
Thank you, Lord, that you have provided the ultimate rescue plan in delivering us from sin’s death trap through Christ, the Lamb of God! AMEN.
Guidance
TUESDAY, October 3
Exodus 13:17-22
“By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light” (v. 21).
Last year my wife and I had the opportunity to hike a few days on the iconic Appalachian Trail which stretches from Georgia to Maine. Navigating your way on the AT is critical. Cellphone reception is not always available. Hard copy maps are extremely helpful—but looking for the painted white blazes on trees along the way is the surest navigation device.
In the extended journey of the Israelites from Egypt to the promised land—probably with fewer trees to blaze along the way!—God provided a pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night to guide their way. God has not left us without navigational tools in our wilderness. We have the Holy Scriptures. “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path” (Psalm 119:105). And we have the Holy Spirit. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13, NRSV).
Lord, thank you that you have provided far more than a road map to guide us through this life! AMEN.
PRAYER FOCUS: VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Parting of the Waters
WEDNESDAY, October 4
Exodus 14:19-31
Escape from Pharaoh’s clutches and bondage in Egypt through the exodus gave the Israelites a glorious freedom! But no sooner had the dust of their departure settled than they found themselves backed up against the Red Sea, their Egyptian captors hot on their trail and closing in quickly.
After two years of a pandemic with hospital beds overflowing, loved ones on breathing machines, and daily mortality counts—not to mention endless divisive debates about how to manage it all—a newfound freedom came as infection rates began to drop to safer levels. But no sooner had we dropped our face masks, did we find ourselves backed up against a raging sea of racial hatred, a tornado of gun violence, and a war in Ukraine dragging into a second year.
Thank you, Lord, for leading us out of the dark perils of the pandemic. We are crying out to you to part the troubled waters that close in around us. Help us to follow you to safety. AMEN.
The Enemy Is Real
THURSDAY, October 5
Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21
I’ll admit it, I don’t like conflict. (Blame it on the enneagram!) I am a peacemaker, and I just want everyone to get along. And I certainly don’t like harsh punishment. “Come on, Pharaoh, can’t we just work this out peaceably?” I want to say. But in reality, things don’t always work that way. Grownups don’t always play nicely in the sandbox of life. And quite frankly, God has little tolerance for people abusing other people. From the very beginning, bad behavior, willful disobedience, and damaging actions against people created in God’s image have carried consequences, both inherent and external. God is a God of justice and of righteousness. When evil is vanquished, when the enemy is defeated, there is rejoicing. Both Moses and Miriam rightly praised God for divine intervention against the enemy.
Thank you, Lord, that one day you will set all things right. In the meantime, may we rejoice to be at the vanguard of your justice and righteousness in this world. AMEN.
PRAYER FOCUS: AWARENESS OF THE NEEDS OF OTHERS
Provision
FRIDAY, October 6
Exodus 16:2-15
Our parents were products of the Great Depression. My mom grew up on what amounted to a small subsistence farm in the Central Valley of California. My mother-in-law grew up on a similar-sized farm in rural northwest Kansas. Mom’s words “We were poor” still ring in my ears. “We don’t throw away good food,” she would say if we failed to join the clean plate club. The more positive admonishment, “Eat up! You don’t know where your next meal is coming from,” was offered up on road trips. Thankfully, I have never lacked for food.
The children of Israel found themselves in a food desert, quite literally. God had brought them there, and God provided for their needs even when their route proved to be a circuitous one of 40 years. God still provides for our sustenance and nourishment today.
Lord, give us this day our daily bread. And thank you for farmers who grow what we eat. AMEN.
Benediction
SATURDAY, October 7
Romans 16:25-27
We were made for community. This week we have been traveling with God’s Old Testament covenantal community, the Israelites, in the early stages of their journey to the promised land. In today’s brief passage, the Apostle Paul gives a closing benediction in praise to God for the church in Rome, part of God’s New Testament covenantal community. In the midst of community, we are not lost as individuals. In the previous 24 verses of this chapter, one thing stands out: names—lots of names! Thirty-six names of people appear in 24 verses. Paul was part of a team, a community. Individuals and their particular contributions to God’s kingdom work were important to Paul. Each of us and our unique gifts are important to God. God works through us today both individually and communally. “The only wise God” had a good plan in establishing the community of the church through the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Praise and thanks be to you, O God, for our sisters and brothers in the community of the church! AMEN.
PRAYER FOCUS: ENGAGEMENT IN SOLVING PROBLEMS
