Deuteronomy 2:7  “The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.” (NIV)

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Our staff had a busy week. We spent Monday through Wednesday at our retreat center with a team of leaders from our association and from around the state. It was a rich time of learning and integrating necessary truths for our individual areas of leadership. 

We attended a leadership conference provided by one of the largest churches in the Metroplex on Thursday. The speakers and breakout sessions were outstanding. One of our staff members stayed at the office to handle necessary details. She also cleaned the whole office so that we didn’t have to do that on Friday.

Our team began cleaning the office about twenty years ago to save money. Our longest-tenured staff member cleans toilets. I mop. Another staff member gathers all the trash and makes several trips to the dumpster. Another staff member sweeps and vacuums. 

Teamwork makes the dream work. 

We typically have our semi-weekly staff meeting after everything is spick and span. Yesterday, we did not. I had an early lab appointment for an upcoming doctor’s visit. There were too many people ahead of me in line for me to get this done on time. I had a dental appointment fifteen minutes away at 9 AM and had to exit the queue.

I arrived at the dentist’s office at precisely 9 AM to discover that I didn’t have an appointment on their schedule until May. There’s a long story about why I rescheduled an appointment a week ago in favor of one yesterday. I’ll spare you the details. As four of us were pondering this issue, the phone rang, and someone canceled his 9 AM appointment. They asked if I would like to take that one. I did.

Then I drove back across town to the aforementioned kidney doctor’s office for labs. They were happy to see me. The grumpy woman who slowed things down when I was there earlier was long gone, and the staff was in a good mood. 

I did not make it in time for staff meeting. 

There was time to take care of some necessary details before heading out the door just before noon to spend the afternoon and evening with our youngest granddaughter and then the pair of our locally-grown sweethearts. We received fun photos featuring our other granddaughter at Disneyland. Our grandson’s mom sent a photo of his college graduation regalia the day before. Grandchildren really are all they’re cracked up to be.

Nearly five hundred words have been expended so far describing my adventures from this past week. Lots of details were assumed or skipped over. It’s easy for us to fill in the details of familiar and similar adventures. We can forgive Old Moses for giving us a whole book of secondhand stories called Deuteronomy. 

Sometimes old guys like Mo and Me forget what stories we’ve already told. My grandfather used to tell the same story the same way every time we got together. After back surgery a couple of years ago, I developed holes in my memory regarding things I’ve known forever. Only recently have I stopped asking my coworkers and family what I was trying to remember and why. 

It’s important to recall that Moses’ audience was not the same as the one who spent a year at the foot of Mount Sinai. Those who were there then were quite young. Their parents and grandparents had all passed away in the intervening forty years of purposeful wandering. Deuteronomy is both a reminder and an instruction manual. 

One of the most important lessons from this book is found in the verse above. We find three important truths that are as true for us today as they were for the Hebrew people who exited Egypt under God’s mighty hand.

1. God blessed all their work in all their wanderings.
2. God guided and protected his people.
3. God provided for all their needs. 

God took forty years to turn a mob into a nation. What they were unwilling and unable to do forty years before, they were now prepared to do then. 

God is forever at work in our lives. He blesses the work he equips us to perform. He guides our lives to the degree we agree to walk in his ways, according to his purpose. He provides all we need as we allow him to lead. His hand of protection is on us to a far greater extent than we will ever know. 

Three-hundred additional words now should serve to remind us how, sometimes, the best route forward is most clearly marked out by where we have been. What God has been doing in our lives has been preparing us for this very moment, and every moment that lies ahead. 

We can trust God to bless the work he gives us to do. 

We can trust God to guide and protect us on the journeys he sets before us.

We can trust God to provide for us wherever he guides us.

Remember these truths as you read this book. Apply these truths to your life, work, and relationships. Teach these truths as often as you have the opportunity, knowing that God’s truth stands the test of time.

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I will remember so I know which way to go.

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Our Father, thank you for repeated stories that reinforce our trust in you. Remind us to look back and acknowledge your mighty hand. Teach us to look around and see what you are doing now. Empower us to look ahead and see something of what’s next while trusting you to fill in the details in your perfect timing. Amen.