Sunday, July 19, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Deuteronomy 6-7
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 83
Key Verse
Deuteronomy 7:1 — “When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;”
Devotional Thought
On a warm July Sunday, when the gardens are heavy with fruit and the fields stand tall with corn, Moses’ words to Israel speak with peculiar force: “when thou shalt have eaten and be full; Then beware lest thou forget the LORD.” The danger Moses foresaw was not famine but fullness. Israel stood on the edge of a land they had not built — “great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, and houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not.” Every well, every vineyard, every olive tree would be a gift they did not earn. And precisely there, in the middle of abundance, the heart is tempted to say, “My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.” So Moses presses the great commandment into their hands and their doorposts: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” That love was to be talked of when they sat in the house and walked by the way, when they lay down and rose up — woven into the ordinary rhythm of a day, taught diligently to children who would ask, “What mean the testimonies… which the LORD our God hath commanded you?” And the answer was always a story of grace: “We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.”
Yet grace does not make us careless. In Deuteronomy 7, God warns Israel against covenants and marriages with the Canaanite nations, not out of petty tribalism but because “they will turn away thy son from following me.” The snare was spiritual, and it began with small compromises — a treaty here, a marriage there, and soon the silver and gold on the graven images would look desirable rather than detestable. Israel’s calling was to be “a special people unto himself,” not because they were many — “ye were the fewest of all people” — but because “the LORD loved you.” Their election rested wholly on His faithful covenant, the same covenant that endures “to a thousand generations.”
Psalm 83 shows what happens when that covenant people face a confederacy of enemies — Edom, Ishmael, Moab, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia, Tyre, even Assyria — all saying, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation.” The psalmist does not panic; he prays, remembering how God broke Midian and Sisera at the brook Kison. Then comes the surprising petition: “Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD.” The goal of deliverance is not merely safety but that “men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.”
This week, notice the wells you did not dig — the friendships, freedoms, and provisions you inherited. Remembering is a discipline. Speak of God’s goodness at your table and on your road. And when enemies rise, pray with the psalmist, confident that the God of the exodus still fights for His people.
Reflection
- What “wells you did not dig” has God given you this season, and how might you actively remember Him before abundance lulls you into forgetting?
- Where have small compromises — a friendship, a habit, an entertainment — begun to turn your heart from wholehearted love for God?
Prayer
O LORD our God, who alone is JEHOVAH, most high over all the earth: we confess that in our fullness we have often forgotten Thee. Forgive us for enjoying Thy gifts while neglecting the Giver. Write Thy words upon our hearts and our doorposts; let us teach them diligently to our children and speak of them in our houses and along our way. Thou art the faithful God who keepest covenant and mercy to a thousand generations. When enemies surround us and confederacies rise, be not silent, but scatter them as stubble before the wind, that all may know Thy name. Keep us from every snare, and let our love for Thee be whole — heart, soul, and might. Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 83:1 — “Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.”