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Deuteronomy 6:6-9 – These commandments that I give to you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (NIV)
In the last few years, it has happened twice now. I have been busily munching away when — crack — I hear and then feel something go snap in my mouth. Each time that I have experienced this, upon further examination, I have discovered that a back molar has cracked, and a small piece of tooth has fallen away. Fortunately, the main part of the tooth has remained intact, and with a little dental repair, no real damage has been done.
These episodes have reminded me, however, of the need to be diligent in remembering God's commands. Even though I have read and reread them and written about them and taught them, I have also discovered that it is easy to get cracks in my memory. I remember part of a passage but not all of it. I remember the meaning of some passages, but others cause me to scratch my head and search the files of my mind concerning their interpretation. I find myself thinking, Now, how does that go again or Where do I find that verse?
Is it any wonder, then, that God wrote to the Israelites what He did in today's passage? He knows the frailty of the human mind. He knows how easy it is for cracks to form within our memories and that repetition, repetition, and more repetition concerning the reading, studying, understanding, and application of His Word is necessary to keep our minds and hearts in tune with His will and His ways.
In today's world of secularism, spending time in God's Word is not a popular pastime, even for many Christians. In fact, there are those who would consider that only those who are a little cracked in the head would waste their time on such things. Far better, in my opinion, however, it is to be labelled cracked in the head by man, than to have my relationship with God cracked in my heart due to forgetting parts of His commands and the glorious, healing truth of His Word. How about you?
Prayer: Father God, thank You so much for the blessing of Your Word. Grant us as Your children a hunger and thirst for You through the revelation of Scripture. May we not be ashamed to talk of Your commands and ways as we walk throughout our day, to think upon them as we sit or lie upon our beds at night, and to gather them together into our hearts day by day, that our relationship with You may be whole and holy, through Christ, the Living Word, in Whose name we pray. Amen.
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Saturday, May 18, 2024 – In North Africa — Living in North Africa we get so used to hearing the call to prayer it becomes like background noise and sometimes I don't hear it anymore. I am challenged by the fact that some Muslims are so committed to pray that they go to the mosque 5 times a day. Would you consider, with me, setting your alarm to go off at 3:00 every day and pray for these three things: 5 families to come to know Christ, 3 people for us to read scripture with,1 new church plant.
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Thanks so much Lynne for your faithfulness and for the wonderful reminder.
I guess ‘cracked’ heads are a normal part of aging..letting in more of His light perhaps??
Amen!
Lynne, Thanks for writing to us.
Hi Lynne, I’m back. You must have wondered if I fell through the “cracks” somewhere along the way.
Oh Lynne, how wonderfully affirming your devotional was for us this day! May God continue to crack our hardheartedness, softening us up to receive our Lord and His blessings. Thanks for writing this. Blessings.
Lynne, thank you again for sharing with us. I also have a similar problem as you were talking about in remembering, however I am not having as much of that as I am still learning and doing the researching. Thank you my. I have you in my prayers.
Lynne – I always enjoy the way you put together your analogies from every day life and this one is a great example.
Keep up the good work!
Blessings.
Dear Lynne,
Reading God’s Word is so very important. Right now, I’ve taken to reading the Bible from the beginning. I’m finding that there are either verses I had forgotten or never remembered at all. Thank you for writing. I receive such a blessing each time I read one of your devotionals.
Lynne:
The church men that I meet with for a spiritual sharing each month often comment about how much they enjoy your devotionals. Thank you for this devotional.
Thank you for encouraging us to fill in the spiritual cracks in our lives. Your analogy is as fitting as a set of good dentures. Most people would not want to go about with broken or rotten teeth. Most people should not to go about with broken or rotten relationships. A healthy relationship with our Lord will lead us into healthier relationships with others.
Continued blessings.
Hi Lynn,
I think we can put some of the blame on the parents who neglected Bible reading as a family activity. I always remind people of my mother’s shoe-box-lid sign in her kitchen. “No Bible no breakfast!” We can add to that the schools where God’s word has been discarded. Gone are the brief passages of scripture that began the day. So that leaves it up to the individual to discipline him/herself to regular reading of the Holy Writ. But the cautioning. “You do err in that you know not the holy Scripture …” puts the blame squarely where it has to be..Love God…Love his word, on the individual.
Pat the animals for me.
Blessings.
Dear Lynne,
Thanks so much for your devotional today.
Yes, I too, have to keep going through the Word to keep it fresh in my mind. (It leaks out the cracks!) I have read through Matthew recently, and am past the middle of Mark, and find it so wonderful to be with Jesus as he feeds the thousands. But I’m disgusted with those who still are asking him for a “sign.” And I ask them, “What kind of a sign do you want? Haven’t you just experienced tremendous miracles?” Then I realize I am often too much like those people.
I pray that you’ll have a good day and a good life.
Keep writing.
Thank you for blessing me today! God bless you.
(Indiana)