This weekly devotional series is designed in conjunction with the Lenten worship series called "A Table in the Wilderness" that we are exploring at Covenant CRC Woodstock over the next six weeks.
Each week you will be provided with an image for reflection, prayers, a scripture reading and reflection questions.
II. A Table in the Wilderness for Israel
The Gathering of the Manna, painted by Bernardino Luini, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Opening Prayer
O Lord, can you really spread a table in the wilderness of life? Walk with me as I walk this path of the cross with honest questions of life in my heart and my face turned to find the table you have spread in the wilderness for so many before me, and now also for me. Amen.
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.
Reading
In the desert, the whole community of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron: “You have brought us out into this desert to starve!” Then the Lord said, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you.” In the morning, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey (adapted from Exodus 16).
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
Reflect
What do I notice as I look at this picture? Where are my eyes drawn? How does it make me feel?
What is making me grumble and worry?
Can God really provide a table in the wilderness of grumbling and worry?
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine with 10, 000 beside.
Christ Speaks: Words of Encouragement
Take heart, my child. I will not let the cross you bear grow beyond your endurance. My Father attends you. He is your Father too. All that is needed God’s hands will provide.
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.
Closing Prayer
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you because by your life, your death, and your resurrection you have shown us how God always spreads a table in the wilderness in the face of all our fears. Amen.
This devotional is adapted from a series provided by Pastor Natasha Vedder to Reformed Worship 146 © December 2022 Worship Ministries of the Christian Reformed Church. Used by permission.