Faithfulness Week 1 Day 2

The Purpose of God in My Life

Read Deuteronomy 10:20-22

20.Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name.
21. He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.
22. Your forefathers who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Moses reminded the Israelites that God took them into Egypt as a group of only seventy souls. Four Hundred Years later, Israel emerged as a nation. It is not uncommon for God's promises to not be completely fulfilled in our lifetime. God made the promise of nationhood to Abram and Sarai in Genesis 12, and even at the end of Abraham's life, Israel was still only a very small nation of three. But in a day long after his death, the nation numbered to millions.

Faithfulness always serves God's purposes, but often the mills of God grind slowly. Many times we only see God's enduring intentions in hindsight. Even as Abraham died, he could not measure the extent of the promise that grew from his faithfulness. That finished vision was perhaps a score of lifetimes away. Still the promises of God never sleep.

Faithfulness instructs us how to live with purpose, but even better, we can pass it to our children until- as Abraham discovered- the world is blessed because of that simple discipline called obedience.

Faithfulness is a gift anyone can give God, and he responds with a purpose for every morning's sunrise. Then at last we are free. We live and have great reasons to live.

Questions for Personal Reflection:

1. Faith is passed from generation to generation. What has been your life teaching about God?

2. Faithfulness produces obedience. What are some things you can do to nurture faithfulness in your life?