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Broken and the Blessed Week 3, Day 6

by David Joynt on January 27, 2017


DAY 20

FRIDAY—JANUARY 27, 2017

EXODUS 32:19; 34:1-5

 Another sign that Moses’ strength was conditioned by humility was his willingness to start over. His anger at Israel’s idolatry led him to smash the tablets of stone containing the 10 Commandments. Yet in Chapter 34 he is recommitted to making a new covenant between Yahweh and those “stiff-necked” people, with new stones of revelation. This willingness to start over after failure and not to see every ending as a terminus, is key in our lives. If we treat each cul de sac as a dead end, our journeys will be short and frustrating. Recommitment is an art and a discipline, which is helped by meekness.

 When have you had to accept failure, gather your strength and begin again? 

FAMILY TIME—

Play Jenga or build something that you can then knock down. Talk about the need in life to start over.

 

Tags: devotional, humility, the broken and the blessed

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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