“When you are in distress.”

Deuteronomy 4:25-31, “When you become the father of children and children’s children and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD your God so as to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you shall surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live long on it, but shall be utterly destroyed. And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, where the LORD shall drive you. And there you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice. For the LORD your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.”

We see this cycle repeated throughout scripture: God initiates a covenant; the people swear to be faithful; they fall away; they seek Him; He is moved with compassion. In all of this His amazing grace, mercy and lovingkindness is supreme. While we may forget His covenant, He will never forget. When we turn to Him, He is always there for us! Why does it take distress to turn us?

We turn to You today for Your enlightenment of scripture; we see Your wisdom, O Lord, knowing that You are always faithful to grant us Your wisdom as we seek You with all of our heart!