Opportunities to connect with God

I saved this illustration all week: I held one side of an energy stick that lights up and makes noise if the circle (circuit) is closed and complete. Every camper and counselor got to participate as one kid held the other end and we all held hands to connect the circle. I pray that it will be a reminder that we can all pray for each other and support each other as fellow Christians and that we can always connect with God. 

Camp came to an end, but growth doesn’t need to. 

We all have opportunities to respond to God for salvation and growth, but those opportunities don’t last forever. 

Deuteronomy‬ ‭7‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ says, “When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; and when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.”

A lot of people ask, “Why did God wipe out innocent nations?”

A couple key things to remember are that they weren’t innocent, they would’ve corrupted the Israelites into horrible sins of idolatry, and God gave them many warnings and opportunities to repent and turn to Him before it was too late. 

Those people, individually and as nations, had many opportunities to turn to God in faith. Rahab did. The Gibeonites did. Based on what they knew about God, they accepted Him and turned toward Him. 

God offers opportunities to us as well. Are you responding?

Today’s Bible reading is Deuteronomy 7.