ODJ: God’s Delivering Ways

June 10, 2018 

READ: Deuteronomy 1:29-31 

You saw how the Lord your God cared for you all along the way as you travelled through the wilderness, just as a father cares for his child (v.31).

A missionary pilot from an African nation visited our church to talk about how God was using the aeroplane our congregation had helped purchase for his ministry. He’d studied aviation in our city and, upon graduation, returned to Africa to use the plane as an air ambulance. The roads in his country are in bad condition, and there’s a distressing lack of medical care in the rural villages from which he transports patients. Without air transport, people would die because they have no access to basic medical care or medicine.

Growing up, the pilot had next to nothing—he didn’t even have shoes as a boy. His family often had to resort to eating a certain kind of tree root just to survive. But God provided for him every step of the way and continually delivered him from seemingly no-way-out situations.

His story reminds me of the way God cared for the Israelites in the desert—every step of the way, over and over again. In Deuteronomy 1:31, Moses reminded the Israelites, “You saw how the Lord your God cared for you all along the way as you travelled through the wilderness, just as a father cares for a child. Now he has brought you to this place.”

I can look back on my life and see how God has gone ahead of me (v.30). But when in the middle of waiting for His deliverance, I can become discouraged, thinking He’s forgotten me. The truth is, God hasn’t forgotten. He’s a good Father caring for me, His child (v.31). While I seldom know how provision or deliverance will come, my missionary friend from Africa reminds me that God is always, always trustworthy and will take care of us. His delivering ways are always present.

—Marlena Graves

365-day plan: Luke 2:1-20