Hume Lake, "The Rock", November 2020
Deuteronomy 7:17-19
“You may say to yourselves, ‘These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?’ But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear.”
As Kati and I discussed our Thanksgiving plans for next week, I couldn’t help but feel some sadness as it sunk in that this season of life has had many trials and losses. Among the losses are simple things like no need to help family make travel plans or decide who would sleep where in our home. A large Thanksgiving meal isn’t practical making a turkey unnecessary, so I started googling “Cornish hens for Thanksgiving” to see if a scaled down alternative would help capture the spirit of this holiday. These are the small but significant losses. There are bigger challenges as well: businesses struggling, families and friends physically and mentally suffering and divisiveness in our nation continues to threaten the ability for us to move toward any sort of unity as Americans. These are difficult days and we can bring our struggles to the Lord.
As Moses leads his people to the Promised Land, he sees the need to help them remember the past in order for them to move forward. His people were fearing the future so Moses reminds them of God’s faithfulness which will give them courage to face the days and months ahead. Just this past weekend, I took my daughter Avery to Hume Lake for an annual Father-Daughter retreat where we worship together, hear great messages and enjoy quality time together. One of the things that Avery wanted to do as well was to find a special rock.
You see, when I was 16 years old, I was at Hume Lake for a high school retreat. I came up the mountain with my church and friends but secretly was sad and depressed because I knew something was missing from my life. The camp speaker told each camper to take one hour after the meeting to go sit, be still and pray to the Lord about whatever was on our hearts. So I took an hour and sat on a rock outside the boys cabin and prayed as best I knew how. Miraculously, the Lord spoke to me, lifted my sadness and depression, filled me with unspeakable joy and gave me a renewed love for life as I chose to serve Him for the rest of my days. I’ve never been the same after that life-changing moment. Avery heard me share this story during a recent sermon so she wanted to go “find that rock where God spoke to you” and make a memorial of some kind. We found it, talked about God being real and make a little memorial to commemorate God’s faithfulness back then and even today.
As we face difficult days, it can help to look back to remember God’s faithfulness. The Lord is still capable to doing great wonders and often He is working in ways our senses cannot detect yet as we face enemies and challenges of all kinds.
Questions to Consider
Can you recall a time when God’s faithfulness was clear to you? How can remembering God’s past faithfulness encourage you to expect His future faithfulness? What is one “enemy” that you long to see God’s “mighty hand and outstretched arm” overcome with His power?
Prayer
Father, forgive us for forgetting who You are and Whose we are. Your faithfulness has never ended and yet it can be hard to see it in the moment when we face fearful things. Help us to relive specific times when You showed up in our lives and broke through a barrier. Reveal to us Your power as we face seen and unseen forces that resist heavenly realities coming to earth. May You find us faithful to remember that You will never leave us or forsake us. Thank You! Amen.
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