Week 52 Monday

Like Showers On New Grass

Today’s scripture selection: Deuteronomy 32-34

Key verse: Deuteronomy 32:1-3

At the end of the Book of Deuteronomy we get a glimpse of Moses, not as lawgiver, but as poet.

Here, in the form of a song, we hear this invitation to praise the God that has been so centrally important in his life:

“Listen, you heavens, and I will speak; hear, you earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. I will proclaim the name of the Lord.”

And then, in great poetic form, he recounts the history of his people and their God.

I am particularly drawn to that image of his words of praise falling like showers on new grass.

It’s as if he is saying – after all the years of slavery and struggle; after all the years of desert wandering; after all the false starts and failures – God is still passionately and powerfully involved with His people. And, just as His grace and guiding wisdom refreshes and sustains us; so our praise should fall on the ears of those who are parched for good news.

This is a song of praise for those were desperately in need of spiritual refreshment – and have graciously received it.

Can you say that is true for you?

Can you identify with ways in which God has tenderly; or powerfully; reached down into your life and met your needs?

If so, sing along with Moses and his people.

“Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.”

“For the Lord’s portion is his people. Jacob his allotted inheritance. In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft.”

Prayer: Lord, I lift my song of praise to you for finding me in a desert land; a barren and howling waste. AMEN.

By Paul Simrell

The Reverend Paul W. Simrell has served for over thirty years in a variety of congregational and institutional settings. He is a recognized minister with standing in the Virginia region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada and is nationally endorsed by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for specialized ministry in both pastoral counseling and chaplaincy. Ordained in 1982, he has served congregations in Kentucky, Texas, Florida, and Virginia. He currently serves as the pastor of Elpis Christian Church, a small, historic congregation located just a few miles west of Richmond, Virginia. Elpis is the Greek word meaning “expectant hope.” He also serves on the associate clinical staff of the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care, Richmond, Virginia, both as a pastoral counselor and a ministerial assessment specialist, specializing in executive, clergy and relationship coaching. He is a graduate of the University of Florida and Lexington Theological Seminary and has done advanced clinical training in chaplaincy and pastoral counseling at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, Children’s Medical Center and Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas and the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care in Richmond, Virginia. He is a Certified Pastoral Counselor, an ACPE Practitioner, and a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors. He is a Certified Facilitator of the Prepare-Enrich relationship assessment and skills-building program and served as a volunteer chaplain for over twenty years with the CJW Medical Center campuses in Richmond, Virginia. His avocational interests include playing the piano and drawing. He is very happily married to his wife Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell, a free-lance writer, who is also a Certified Facilitator for the Prepare-Enrich program. Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

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