Read:
Sometimes when a couple has been married for a long time, they choose to renew their vows. Friends and family gather to celebrate. It’s a ceremony to recommit their lives to each other, just like they did on their original wedding day.
As Israel prepared to conquer the land that God had promised them, Israel paused to renew the covenant God had made with it a generation before. This isn’t the first time God promised to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land - only the last group was misguided and fell for a lie that the journey was hopeless. This made God angry, so he made sure they would never set foot in the Promised Land. Over the next forty years, they wandered the wilderness, and that generation died off.
The people who have just crossed the Jordan River are all less than forty years old. They were born in the wilderness. They were not part of the group that went astray from God’s promise. This is the group that believed God, and in this moment God renews his covenant with Israel, the covenant he made with Abraham. Like a couple renewing their vows, promises are made, and God’s promises will be kept.
Prayer: Dear God, you are faithful! The covenant you made with me is not based on the circumcision or the sacrifice of animals but on what Jesus did for me when he died on the cross. I am your child because you love me and have chosen me. I will worship you! Amen.