Yesterday I took a break from my daily routine and focused on a project with a deadline. I felt odd about it, as if this irregularity was not God’s idea. It is no surprise that today’s devotional word is DAILY!
The OT noun for daily is used as an adverb to describe that which is “lasting” or something done “continually.” The word can describe both an action done regularly, often according to a schedule or an adjective to describe offerings in the sacrificial system.
Ezekiel 46:13. “You shall provide a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering to the Lord daily; morning by morning you shall provide it.
It occurs also to describe God’s people in bondage in Egypt. When Moses asked that His people be allowed to go out and worship, their slave drivers increased their daily work load. However, after they were brought out of that bondage, the Lord went before his people in a pillar of cloud by day, indicating His daily guidance.
Nehemiah 9:12. “By a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go.”
These and other verses tell me that God does not take a vacation from leading His people, nor should I take a holiday from listening to His instruction.
As He led His people through the wilderness, the Lord gave them daily rations with one day of rest, “on the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” Again, this word expresses continuous action. The daily care of God is a dependable and important part of following Him.
When Moses brought them to the promised land and leadership was given to Joshua, God gave these instructions that also have applications for me:
Joshua 1:8–9. “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
These instructions are significant. God taught me the habit of reading His Word long before He opened my eyes to the identity of Jesus Christ and to understanding what I was reading. Every day since then, for more than fifty years, He has daily guided me with light from His Word and whispers from His Holy Spirit.
Daily applies to God’s care and His expectations. The offerings for sin were daily, telling me to keep short accounts with Him, confessing sin daily as necessary. The psalmist also praised God saying, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.” And even when exiled to Babylon, the leader of the Jews, Jehoiachin put off his prison garments and “every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table . . . . a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, as long as he lived.”
Daily care for others is a way of life for God’s people too. Nehemiah 5:15 says, “The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration forty shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people. But I did not do so, because of the fear of God.”
Solomon rightly personified wisdom saying, “Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord.” (Proverbs 8:34–35)
While Jesus used a word for food in Matthew 6:11, He could have meant spiritual sustenance. In other words “Give us this day our daily bread” could be literal bread, but also refer to the bread of life which is the Living and Written Word of God — both necessary for spiritual health and well-being.
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. This is a daily thing. Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” He lived what He said, “teaching daily in the temple” even as “the chief priests, scribes and principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him.” After the resurrection, the Gospel spread and “churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.” Paul had “daily pressure in anxiety for their well-being” and that continues today for those who care about God’s people. The only thing that is no longer daily is this truth from Hebrews 7:27: “(Jesus) has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.” Yet after doing that one time, He still takes daily care of His people!
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