Walk in Wisdom
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These daily devotionals are written to help you remain rooted and grounded in God's Word each day. We have one devotional for each weekday, and one for the weekend.
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Latest Devotional
Further In
Further In
Exodus 19:21-22
And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the LORD to look and many of them perish. Also let the priests who come near to the LORD consecrate themselves, lest the LORD break out against them.”
Why did God station an angel at the border of Eden to bar its entrance? As a symbol that Adam and Eve’s sin had made a severance in their communion with the Holy One. Why did God tell Moses to remove his sandals at the fiery bush theophany? As a symbol that no human artifice can sully the hallowed ground on which God treads. Why will God later command the constructors of the tabernacle to place a dividing curtain between the inner sanctuary and the rest of the universe? As a symbol that we, in our sinfulness, are unworthy to gaze upon the Lord in His glory. Time and time again through the Old Testament, through all the diverse eras of human history, there has been some symbolical door or gate or veil or mountain pass leading to a more direct and intimate relationship with God, and the only way to break through is by divine invitation.
Here in Exodus 19:21-22, God isn’t commanding His people to ‘back off’ as if He doesn’t desire to reveal His glory. Far from it! He’s the same God who said through the prophet Jeremiah, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Instead, He’s adding to the picture of His holiness what we could call the sacrament of consecration: the reality that only one with clean hands and a pure heart can enter God’s presence. That’s what Exodus-Deuteronomy essentially is. God gives His people a set of conditions for drawing near, from Sabbaths to sacraments to sundry laws, so that those who truly yearn after Him may have a means of breaking through the vail to gaze upon His countenance.
Nevertheless, we as sinful men can only come to the Father on His terms, through His atonement, by Hisconsecrating Passion, and those who sew fig leaves for their sin or build high places for their convenience or conform orthodoxy to fit their own agendas will not break through to Sinai’s summit. They’ll only linger in darkness at the base.
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Lead Me to Calvary
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The Gospel Call
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Supreme Court Justice
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An Intervention
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The Tie that Binds
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Coming Around
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Pitching In
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Strong as a Rock
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How Long, O Lord?!
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Treasures in the Dust
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Mark My Word
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Heaven Sent
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In Between
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Meaning, as a Rule
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Fight or Flight
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If the Bones are Good
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Sabbath Psalm 34
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The Power of His Word
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A Song is Rising
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A Wake-Up Call
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Genesis, First-Hand
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Do or Die
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Sabbath Psalm 33
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Face Off
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Not on Auto-Pilot
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Oh the Radiance!
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Unbreakable Bonds
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God is Strong—for Starters
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Sabbath Psalm 32
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Indigenous Saints
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A Traveling Band
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A Blood Bath
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Reserved Seating
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Shadow and Substance
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Sabbath Psalm 31
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Another Genesis
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Wonderful News
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Post Traumatic Sacrifice Disorder
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A Great Glimpse
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Some through the Fire
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Sabbath Psalm 30
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Let There be Light
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A Painful Plea
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Sour Words
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From the Mouths of Babies
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Mustard Seeds
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Sabbath Psalm 29
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At the Heart of the Story
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The Hardened Heart Problem—Continued
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Mid-Life Crisis
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The Fuss—no Feast—of Faith
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Defining Lines
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Sabbath Psalm 28
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Absent-Minded Professors
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Temporary Relief
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So Close
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The Emperor’s New Trick
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Another Lying Serpent
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Sabbath Psalm 27
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Roads Not Taken
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Deep, Deep Waters
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Recharge
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Lost in Translation
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Feeling the Weight
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Sabbath Psalm 26
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Today: A New Testament
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Slipping Up
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Beating on an Open Door
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Says Who?
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Growing Pains
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Sabbath Psalm 25
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Holiness Hurts
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Mountain Climbers
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Playing Dumb
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Shepherding Made Easy?
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A Name to Bear
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Sabbath Psalm 24
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The Reluctant Hero
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The Art of Becoming
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Home at Last
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God Only Knows
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Over the Hill
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Sabbath Psalm 23
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Missing Pieces
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Anti-Hero
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Sealed with a Tear
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Like Father Like Daughter
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Motherhood: an Exhibition
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Sabbath Psalm 22
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An Ode to the Small
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Ignorance or Arrogance?
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A New Dawn
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Just the Beginning
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Story Time
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What a Testimony!
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Lamb Keepers
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Candlewicks
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Providence—a Patchwork
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Ever After