Day 1: Introduction
Welcome to our brand new daily devotions for the month of August. Our last series of devotions (Real Faith, Real Life) finished at the end of June. Since that time, a lot of things have changed!
It seems that with each passing week here in England, something else changes! Each week we hear news about another sector of society that is able to reopen, or another business that found a way to continue trading in a new and safe way.
What we’re finding as each week passes is that our nation is able to return to some form of normality. For some it’s a welcome and much anticipated return, as they race back to their favourite restaurant or gym. For others, the return to wider community has been a little more concerning, as we navigate our way through the requirements and guidelines.
For everyone though, the past few months been have slow but steady period of coming out of hibernation! Stepping back into the community and interaction that was so limited during the lockdown season.
As Influence Church, we’re on the same journey! A progression towards our phased-return to physical church services, with real, but socially distant, people! We’re moving forward! There’s a new an exciting season ahead and we know God has great plans!
As we walk this journey together, we wanted to take the opportunity to start another biblical journey together too. Over the next 4 weeks we’re going to looking through the book of Joshua, looking at how the Israelites moved forward into a new and significant season in their lives.
Tomorrow we will start in Joshua chapter 1 (feel free to read ahead, to get ready), but as we finish this introduction, let’s just look at Deuteronomy 34, the last chapter before Joshua begins.
In this chapter we read about the death of Moses. Moses was the bold and strong leader that God had used to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.
Verse 10 tells us that there has never again been a prophet like Moses, who God used in such a powerful way.
So for good reason, the Israelites grieved at their loss when Moses died. He was a great man and an incredible leader, who God had used to bring the Israelites this far… but the story wasn’t finished yet! They had still not reached the promised land. They had not yet seen the fulfilment of God’s promise to them.
Verse 8 tells us that the Israelites grieved for Moses for 30 days after his death “until the time of weeping and mourning was over.”
There was a new season ahead. Things were about to change.
They were coming out of season of stagnation. They were moving forward!
See you tomorrow!
Ps Ben Dowding
Senior Pastor