Monday, July 21, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Deuteronomy 10-11
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 84
Key Verse
Deuteronomy 11:6 — “And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel:”
Devotional Thought
Moses stands on the far side of forty years of wilderness wandering, retelling the story to a generation that was mostly children when the Red Sea split open. In Deuteronomy 10 he remembers how he hewed two new tables of stone after shattering the first ones in righteous anger over the golden calf, and how he built an ark of shittim wood to hold them. He remembers Aaron’s death and burial at Mosera, and Eleazar rising to take his father’s place—a quiet reminder that even the priestly line passes on. Then comes the heart of it: “And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul.” Not a checklist of rituals, but a wholehearted devotion. Moses grounds that call in who God is—”God of gods, and Lord of lords”—the One who executes judgment for the fatherless and widow and loves the stranger, giving him food and raiment. Because Israel herself was once a stranger in Egypt, they are to love the stranger in turn.
Chapter 11 turns from memory to choice. Moses sets before the people a blessing and a curse, to be proclaimed later on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. The land they are about to enter is not like Egypt, where they irrigated by foot like a garden of herbs; it is a land of hills and valleys that drinks rain from heaven, a land the LORD Himself cares for, His eyes upon it “from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.” Obedience brings the former and latter rain, corn and wine and oil; disobedience shuts up the heavens. And so the words must be bound on the hand, worn between the eyes, taught to children when sitting in the house and walking by the way, written on doorposts and gates.
Psalm 84 sings the same longing from the other side of the covenant. The psalmist’s soul faints for the courts of the LORD; even the sparrow finds a home at His altars. He would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than dwell in the tents of wickedness, for the LORD is a sun and shield who withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly. Here in late July, when the heat presses down and gardens depend on rain we cannot command, Moses’ words about a land that drinks water from heaven feel close to home. We too live by daily mercy, not by our own irrigation. The question Moses pressed on Israel presses on us: will we cleave to the God who cares for the land and the stranger, or turn aside to gods we have not known?
Reflection
- Moses says God “regardeth not persons” and defends the fatherless, widow, and stranger—then commands Israel to love the stranger because they were strangers in Egypt. Where in your own life is God calling you to remember your own wandering and extend that mercy to someone outside your circle?
- The land drinks “water of the rain of heaven,” and God’s eyes are on it year-round—yet blessing or curse hinges on whether Israel hearkens diligently. What would it look like this week to lay up God’s words in your heart, teach them to your household, and actually trust Him for the rain you cannot produce yourself?
Prayer
LORD of hosts, God of gods and Lord of lords, we come before You as strangers who have been shown mercy. You are the great God who regardeth not persons, who executes judgment for the fatherless and widow and gives food and raiment to the stranger. Circumcise our hearts, we pray, and take away our stiffnecked pride. Teach us to fear You, to walk in all Your ways, to love You and serve You with all our heart and soul. Let Your words be bound upon our hands and written on our doorposts, spoken to our children when we sit and when we walk. Be our sun and shield, and withhold no good thing from us as we trust in You. Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 84:1 — “How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!”