Daily
Devotional

I do not remember how old I was when my mother first began teaching me the fine art of making cornbread. She showed me how to measure the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and carefully mix them together. Then she measured the milk, eggs, and melted butter or oil into another bowl and beat them together. Only after the wet ingredients were thoroughly combined did she pour the mixture into the dry ingredients and stir it all together. She did not mix the resulting batter too long, because then it would not turn out right. Also, the oven had to be set at just the right temperature, the pan greased, and the bread baked until it was perfectly golden brown. Today, if I follow the directions exactly, my cornbread tastes just like Mom’s.  

However, if I am in a hurry and do not take the time to preheat the oven long enough, or if I do not combine the ingredients in the order prescribed by the recipe, my cornbread does not turn out quite right. Mom had actually made cornbread so often that she stopped looking at the recipe, but she knew from experience that if she followed the right steps, her cornbread would turn out correctly. And it did!  

Our focus verse comes from the passage of the Bible just before God told the Children of Israel to inhabit the land of Canaan. He gave them very specific instructions as to how they were to live in the Promised Land, and said that if they followed the directions to the letter, He would bless them in every way. And indeed, when they were obedient to His commandments, God blessed their nation.

God’s Word contains instructions and promises for us, too. It may sometimes be easy to take a “shortcut” and still expect God to bless our efforts, but we need to remember that God always expects us to obey His “recipe” for success. If we take care to diligently seek His instruction and then do exactly what He has commanded, He will honor our obedience and bless us. We will be happy with the results!