February 28th - Reflection

Deuteronomy 32:1-14 (NRSV)
God's care for the chosen people
Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;
let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
May my teaching drop like the rain,
my speech condense like the dew;
like gentle rain on grass,
like showers on new growth.
For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
ascribe greatness to our God!

The Rock, his work is perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God, without deceit,
just and upright is he;
yet his degenerate children have dealt falsely with him,
a perverse and crooked generation.
Do you thus repay the Lord,
O foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your father, who created you,
who made you and established you?
Remember the days of old,
consider the years long past;
ask your father, and he will inform you;
your elders, and they will tell you.
When the Most High apportioned the nations,
when he divided humankind,
he fixed the boundaries of the peoples
according to the number of the gods;
the Lord's own portion was his people,

Jacob his allotted share.

He sustained him in a desert land,
in a howling wilderness waste;
he shielded him, cared for him,
guarded him as the apple of his eye.
As an eagle stirs up its nest,
and hovers over its young;
as it spreads its wings, takes them up,
and bears them aloft on its pinions,
the Lord alone guided him;
no foreign god was with him.
He set him atop the heights of the land,
and fed him with produce of the field;
he nursed him with honey from the crags,
with oil from flinty rock;
curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
with fat of lambs and rams;
Bashan bulls and goats,
together with the choicest wheat
you drank fine wine from the blood of grapes.
Reflection
This is a reflection of how God takes care of the Israelites. As the Israelites are poised just outside of the promised land, Moses sang this song to the Lord. God takes care of his people. God feeds them, protects them and gives them a call. Rejoice in our life with God. Rejoice in the blessings. Reflect upon the hard times and know that God is present in and through the hard times at your side.

As we walk through life, stop every once and a while and realize how God has been active in your life. Give thanks to God and go to the Lord and seek him and his direction and way. Don't let your arrogance, selfishness, pride or greed separate you from God. God has chosen you to be his. Even though broken, God wants and needs you to be his pupil and disciple in his Kingdom. Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Dear Lord, when I'm in the midst of the wilderness, forgive my pride and selfish attitude that I can leave you and your people for my own way. Lead me and teach me the love of compassion. Teach me the love of forgiveness. Teach me the love of pitching in together as you guide us through your Kingdom day by day. You are God and greatly to be praised. --- Amen