Daily Devotion, January 27, 2021

 

Devotion:

Read Exodus 13:21-22.

In its earliest days, I liked to argue with my phone’s GPS instructions. I had a lot of pride that I usually could find my way from one destination to another, even without a map! So, I decided to go against the GPS and take the exit I had always taken off of I-75 in Atlanta, only to realize that particular exit had been totally changed! I was humbled to make a U-turn to follow the GPS toward taking the exit of its original recommendation!

On another occasion, I was following the GPS for the shortest route to Cades Cove and it led me to a road which was a dirt road for emergency vehicles into the National park! The shortest route added an hour to the trip! 

Before GPS, and before printed road maps, Moses was called to lead a group of people out of Egypt and out of their enslavement to Pharaoh to freedom in the Land of Canaan. This was not a small group of people. Exodus 12: 37 says there “are about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.”

God is the attentive leader of this great group of people leading them to freedom in the new land of promise. God understands the minds of the people and charts the course not through the Philistine country, but around the desert road and toward the Red Sea.

God brilliantly leads this large group of people in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night! And God’s presence and leading never leaves the people! (But some probably argued with Moses that perhaps God’s leading didn’t make sense!)

It’s not always easy to understand how God is leading. Sometimes it is when we look back, we realize how God was leading and stayed with us. Sometimes we try to go our own way. God leads us to make a U-turn to get back on track! But we can have full assurance that God is always present leading and guiding each step of the way.

Personal Worship Option:

God is with us. We might not always see the signs that clearly, but we can have full assurance that God is always with us to guide us. Dear Lord, lead us to trust and to follow You in all the ways you are leading. Amen.