Thursday, October 6, 2011

October 7, 2011

"Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,"  Exodus 19:5

The EKG devotional for today contines the thought of being God's possession. Ken Hemphill writes:

:et's look a little deeper at what it means to be God's possession. Some translations of the Bible render "My own possession" (Ex. 19:5) as "My peuliar people." which comes from a Latin word for "poperty".We are indeed a rather peculiar lot, aren't we? Yet withall of our peculiarities, God still calls us his own special treasure.

Some commentators have even linked this wording to a term referring to a personal collection or hoard. The idea of a "peculiar" treasure, then - when seen in this light - is of a unique and exclusive possession among all the others. God's people are like this toHim - His crown jewel, His masterwork, His one of a kind. And He never wanted Israel to forget it:

"You are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be His own possession out of all the poeples on the face of the earth."  Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:2

"Today the Lord has affirmed that you are His special people as He promised you, that you are to keep all His commnds" (Deuteronomy 26:18)

"They will be mine," says the Lord of Hosts. 'a special possessionon the day I am preparing. I will have compassion on thm as a man has compassion on his son who serves him." (Malachi 3:17)

A loving father takes his child's face in his hands, looks deeply into her eyes, and affirms over and over that "you are my special child." It boggles my mind to think that the sovereign God of the universe, the Creator of all that exista, has chosen to take His children into His arms and declare; "You are special to me." But this is the unquestionable reality of what the bible teaches us. We are God's people by His own gracious choice. We are His most hihly valuable possessions.

Will you read thes verses again and insert your name in to make them personal? Let it sink deep into your consciousness how special you are to God. When He becomes more precious to you you will know it is sinking in!