Day 78

Reading today’s text consistently takes me back roughly 27 years to when I was on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ (now CRU). I was in the midst of a fast and the first bit of that time was rough. I truly felt like in my prayers I was talking with a brick wall. And my reading plan was in Deuteronomy at the time. As I read chapter 28 it was verses 47 & 48 that hit me hard. At the time I’m sure I read them in the New American Standard Bible so that’s what I’ll quote from here:

“Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.“ (Deut. 28:47,48 NASB)

I was convicted by the Spirit of God as I read those words that I had been serving the Lord because it was the thing I was supposed to do - this was what a good Christian young man ought to do. But that wasn’t a great motivation. I am (and you are) called to serve the Lord with joy and a glad heart because of who He is and his greatness and the greatness of his mercy and grace. It’s good to be reminded consistently that I serve the Lord because his grace and goodness have enabled me to do just that. My call is to trust him, to rest in him completely and to serve him because of who He is.