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Hello! How’s the weather where you are? It’s that time of year again, and I’m loving the lower temperatures here in central Florida. We’re installing an electric fireplace in our family room, and I can’t wait to enjoy cozy evenings with a “fire” that doesn’t smoke or require clean-up… just dusting every month or so!

Last Week’s Work

CROSS-REFERENCES

From my review of the cross-references, I was impressed by the many times God repeated His promises of blessings and prosperity for obedience. They appear in Leviticus, Deuteronomy 7, Deuteronomy 12, Deuteronomy 13, Deuteronomy 28, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, and Ezekiel.

Those promises are expanded to include consequences for disobedience in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Ezekiel. And I noticed Leviticus 26 also mentions the promise of forgiveness when the Israelites confessed their sins.

I also noted God is portrayed in numerous passages as the One who heals. One instance of this really stood out to me: in 2 Kings, Hezekiah was deathly ill when he wept and prayed for healing, reminding God of the king’s faithfulness. God heard and healed him as a fig poultice was applied to his boil. And that detail connects to the plague of boils the Egyptians and their livestock suffered while Israel was still enslaved in Egypt. In addition, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Hosea all wrote of the LORD’s healing power, and James also comments about it, further recounting the power of prayer to move God to heal.

OTHER TRANSLATIONS

I compared four versions (Amplified, New International Version, New Living Translation, and Good News Translation) of verse 26 and didn’t have any aha! moments: the versions were all pretty consistent.

COMMENTARY

My review of several commentaries helped me appreciate another comparison I didn’t catch in week five: Moses’ reaction to the bitter water (prayer and then action—listening and obeying God’s direction) versus Israel’s reaction (grumbling against Moses).

I also observed difficulty can serve as proof we’re doing what God directed us to do. Sent to humble us, it breaks down our self-confidence, so we appreciate and ask for God’s infinite assistance.

I experienced this firsthand recently with technical issues on this website. In the past, I’ve struggled to resolve them in my own strength. I began down that same road this time, grumbling all the while. By His grace, the LORD led me to an affordable alternative with technical help who quickly resolved the issue. Even better, I shouldn’t have to deal with it again for at least a few years! God is so good when we listen, trust, and obey!

Dig-In Challenges

This week, let’s wrap up this study of Exodus 15:22-27 and align with what we’ve discovered:

1. PRAY: Use my prayer from week 2, or your own.
2. ALIGN: Review your study notes (or what I’ve posted since week 2) and consider what you’ve learned in this study.
3. ALIGN: Then, think about how the Spirit has convicted you through this study. In other words, where has He shown you misalignment between what we’ve discovered and how you practice your faith?
4. ALIGN: Next, look to God’s Word for guidance to correct that misalignment. For me, this is often a verse from the study text or from one of the cross-references.
5. ALIGN: And finally, reflect on how you can practice thoughts or actions that align more closely with what you’ve discovered here.
6. To make this stick, I commit for at least three weeks to change my thoughts [by focusing daily on my correction verse(s), above] and/or actions [by stopping or starting an activity as the Spirit leads].