Contemplative Bible Reading

Deuteronomy 10:11 (New Living Translation)

11 Then the Lord said to me, “Get up and resume the journey, and lead the people to the land I swore to give to their ancestors, so they may take possession of it.”

Moses is reminding the people of the history of their passage from Egypt to the Promised Land. God had given Moses the tablets with the law. Moses smashed those tablets when he saw the sins of the people. Moses made a second set of tablets for the law.

This all took 40 days and 40 more days and all that. It was a messy pause to a journey.

Then God told Moses to, “Get up and resume the journey.”

We have messy periods of time in our lives. Something bad happens. We evacuate for a hurricane. We bury a relative and meet with all the lawyers. Life seems to pause.

Get up and resume the journey.

Perhaps a better way to think of this is to continue the journey with God through the messy periods of time in our lives. Minister to those you meet while evacuating the hurricane, burying the relative, meeting the lawyers, and so on. The pauses in life are not alone. There are others present who need God’s grace, and I am sitting right there. Who better to share than me?