DEVOTION FOR WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2017
Read Deuteronomy 10:12-22
Wonders Before Our Eyes
Mention the name Charles Lindbergh and many will remember that he completed the first solo flight across the Atlantic. In addition to his prominent exploits in flight, however, he also made a major contribution to biomedical research. After his sister-in-law developed a severe heart condition, Lindbergh began a period of intensive research during which he collaborated with the French Nobel-prize winner Alexis Carrel to invent the Lindbergh-Carrel profusion pump. This pump provided the first practical means for stopping the heart during medical procedures and paved the way for the first open-heart surgeries.
As with our memories of Lindbergh’s achievements, Christians can at times focus solely on Jesus’ work of salvation, overlooking God’s long history of delivering His people and failing to consider how that should shape our perspective. In Deuteronomy 10, Moses reminds the Israelites of the wondrous ways God multiplied the ranks of the Hebrew people, led them out of slavery, guided them through the wilderness, and would soon bring them into the Promised Land. Even wonders so amazing as this can slip into oblivion if we do not call them to mind.
But the larger point of the passage is not just that we should continually remember the wonders that God has worked, but that doing so should transform the way we live. Thus, the Israelites are reminded that God “defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you” (v. 18). The blessings that God has showered on their behalf—protection and provision—should cause them to do the same. The wonders God has performed before our eyes should lead us to live in wondrous new ways that manifest a true love of God and of our neighbors.
APPLY THE WORD
Deuteronomy 10 suggests that God’s saving hand appears not only in extraordinary events like the parting of the Red Sea but also in occurrences such as the birth and growth of children. Scripture credits God for the everyday wonders of the sun rising and the rain falling. What wonders of God might you be overlooking in your own life?
Today in the Word is a production of Moody Global Ministries
