My husband and I love to sit down and recount the story of how we met and married.
(Okay, so I love it, and my husband tolerates my romanticism.)
There were so many things that had to work together: other relationships beginning and ending, a last-minute decision to go to a conference, a spur-of-the-moment trip to California,and a daring text message sent by an awkward homeschooled girl (me) who is hilariously bad at flirting to this day. We look at all those puzzle pieces and see God’s faithfulness in bringing us together.
I’ve learned that, if we stop to notice them, those opportunities to marvel at God’s orchestration are all over every single one of our stories. Whether it was the way we ended up at our church or our job, in our friendships or romantic relationships,, we can see the fingerprints of God all over our lives.
It makes sense, then, that this all-mighty, minutely orchestrating God would show His faithfulness in such a grand way in the details of Israel’s story. Starting with the promise of fertility to a one-hundred-year-old man, weaving through the son born to the “wrong” sister, building to a favorite son who was sold into slavery then perfectly positioning him to later bless his family in Egypt, crashing into the valley of 400 years of slavery, and singing to full crescendo a harrowing escape through the parting of the Red Sea—God’s story of faithfulness to His children is writ large, even in the tiniest details.
And Moses will spend his near-dying breaths to continue to remind those “stiff-necked” children of what they seem so eager to forget: this promise-keeping God is worthy of their undaunted worship.
In his final prayer, he reminds the children of Israel to ask their fathers about God’s faithful sustenance (Deuteronomy 32:6–7), because their fathers and their father’s fathers all the way back past Jacob have seen it (Deuteronomy 32:9). He reminds them of God’s tender care throughout generations (Deuteronomy 32:10–14)—and, also, of Israel’s continued rebellion against God and God’s subsequent punishment of these rebellions (Deuteronomy 32:19–22)
He reminds them that Israel was chosen out of the kindness of God’s heart, not out of anything deserving in them (Deuteronomy 32:28). And yet, even after recounting their folly, He reminds Israel that God will purify them (Deuteronomy 32:43). He will always, in the end, be victorious.
God is worthy of praise because He is God alone. And yet, He gives us even more reason to praise Him through His sustained faithfulness to a rebellious and stiff-necked people. Looking at His fingerprints in the providence of our stories is just one reason we are called to praise and honor Him (Psalm 86:12). It is just one way that we see His faithful love for us (Psalm 86:13). He will always, always prove to be our rescuer.
“He will always, always prove to be our rescuer.” I love that so much. God is the reason I am out of a 3 year narcissistic relationship. I haven’t been out of it long, but a few months. I’ve been reading my Bible and the Lord has blessed me so fruitfully since I left, I don’t deserve it. The funny part is is that I, like a dog returning to its vomit, went back. And when I realized what I had done and begged God to save me and He did, yet again. He is our rescuer. Wow.
I remember before I meant Christ, I went through a period of depression. And when I came out of it, the end of my senior year of high school, I remember telling myself I need to leave my home and my comfort and my friends to find my identity and myself. Unbeknownst to me, God was guiding me to find him. But I love to look back at my journey even before giving my life to our Lord and Savior and seeing how he directed my steps perfectly
Amen. Well said
Truly a beautiful song.
The Lord will be my rescued! put my trust in the Lord for he will give me strength and my rescuer. Please pray I keep my faith in him!
I put my trust in the Lord for he will give me strength and my rescuer. Please pray I keep my faith in him!
Reading through the song of Moses made me recognize that we as humans have not given God the glory and worship that he deserves. After several thousand years, here we are, stiff necked and proud, and we are the believers! The people that are supposed to know the most about God! I am so thankful for the grace that covers our sin. We don’t deserve it, many times we don’t understand it, but we know that we have it. May we move forward in our lives with the faithfulness to bring about the fruit of the spirit in this broken and hurting world. May we be a blessing to those hurting and in need. May we demonstrate true servitude to believers and nonbelievers, alike.
Ladies, you are such a blessing to me. I pray for you and your concerns, your hurts, and your grief. In spite of all you go through, you come here everyday and share with us. Thank you beautiful sisters in Christ!
Like yesterday, I always hope that people will remember to thank our God for the things that they have. I can never think of going through life now without thanking God for everything, even the failures. Also, I think its amazing that God allowed Moses to see the promised land. He didn’t go into it, but he saw the beauty of it, and that was enough. God is GREAT!