May 6

When the Lord spoke to the people through Moses regarding the covenant he was making with them, he was speaking to us as well:

"I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you who are standing here today in the presence of the Lord our God but also with those who are not here today" (Dt. 29:14,15).

Though Moses was referring to the covenant God gave to their forefathers, regarding the promised land of Canaan, Scripture often has a larger view in its words, beyond the immediate application to the current situation. So it is that we hear God say to us that we are right now standing before him and that he desires to enter into a covenant with us: for us to be his people and for him to be our God.

I once spoke of this covenant to a roomful of men in a jail. I told them that they were standing before God at that very moment and that God desired to covenant with them for them to be his own and for him to be their God. The truth of those words never seemed more real to me than at that moment, for I looked out at the faces of all those men who were at that moment in prison for their sinful deeds, and the truth of the freedom that God wants to bring into every heart controlled by sin was vividly portrayed to me on every face in that crowd.

Scripture for today: Dt. 29:9-15
Thought for today: God's covenant with me in Jesus can set me free.
Prayer for today: Lord, remind me always of the covenant I have with you in Christ.

MAY 06