Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Deuteronomy 22 before reading the devotional below.
“What’s the most important part of your relationship with Jesus?” I asked. I was leading a Wednesday night Bible study in a garage the church owned. We were stuffed between shelves of food for the church’s food pantry and the band equipment the Worship Team used for practice. The answers were unsurprising: prayer, reading the Bible and going to church came up a lot. While I agree that these are important, the answers hinted at an unspoken assumption: there’s the “spiritual stuff” and the “non-spiritual stuff.” Praying is spiritual, changing the oil in your car isn’t. Church is spiritual, stopping at Walmart isn’t.
This chapter of Deuteronomy challenges us to look past this spiritual/non-spiritual perspective that many of us see the world through. In talking about faithfulness to God, this chapter uses “non-spiritual” words like “sheep” and “owner” and “tree” and “house.” In a society that was based on cattle and farming, God gave some solid, down-to-earth rules about how to choose to love God through everyday living. The section is capped off with an extended conversation about adultery. God cares a lot about sexuality – He designed it to be a living reminder of his own love for humanity. It, too, is a practical, down-to-earth issue, and God offers wise counsel that reveals both God’s passion for healthy sexuality and his ongoing passion for justice.
Just as the Israelites could encounter God and his leadership in everyday events like farming and herding, you can encounter God through following his leadership in everyday events. You can encounter God by how you choose to care for your family and your belongings. You can encounter God through your choices as an employee or a neighbor. In life every moment holds choices, and each choice is an opportunity to engage with God’s leadership in your life. Every choice to follow God’s leadership leads you closer to him. Every admission of failure opens a road back to him. Either way, it is in the context of daily choices that the true experience of God can be found.