Lent Devotions 2018 FINAL

Acts 7:30-40 (CEB)
30 “Forty years later, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush in the wilderness near
Mount Sinai. 31 Enthralled by the sight, Moses approached to get a closer look and he heard the
Lord’s voice: 32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’[a] Trembling
with fear, Moses didn’t dare to investigate any further. 33 The Lord continued, ‘Remove the sandals
from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have clearly seen the oppression
my people have experienced in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning. I have come down to rescue
them. Come! I am sending you to Egypt.’[b]
35 “This is the same Moses whom they rejected when they asked, ‘Who appointed you as our leader
and judge?’ This is the Moses whom God sent as leader and deliverer. God did this with the help of the
angel who appeared before him in the bush. 36 This man led them out after he performed wonders
and signs in Egypt at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness. 37 This is the Moses who told
the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’[c] 38 This is the one
who was in the assembly in the wilderness with our ancestors and with the angel who spoke to him on
Mount Sinai. He is the one who received life-giving words to give to us. 39 He’s also the one whom our
ancestors refused to obey. Instead, they pushed him aside and, in their thoughts and desires, returned
to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will lead us. As for this Moses who led us out of
Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him!’[d]
I was drawn to two verses. The first was verse 34. God
tells us that he has seen our oppression and heard the groans of his people. God tells
us that he has come to rescue us from the evil or the world. The second verse that I
was drawn to was verse 39. The people push Moses aside and instead of listening to
God and following his plan for their lives, they return to Egypt out of their own desires
and thoughts. Instead of the people of Israel listening to the someone that God put in
their path to lead them, they throw him out and return to the bondage. What I draw
from this passage is that man does not obey God's plan for our lives. We are instead
caught up in the pleasures of the world. God calls us to follow him and to take heed to
the people he puts in our path to remind us of his plan for our lives.
Dear God, help me to remember that I am merely your servant and that all the blessings in my life
come from your grace. Help me to see those that you put in my path to remind me of your plan, and
how to show others your grace and love.
- Nicholas Shumate