Our Daily Bread Devotional For June 27, 2024 ; Topic – Life’s Pilgrimage
Read previous Our Daily Bread Devotionals here
Bible in a Year :
Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.
Today’s Scripture : Hebrews 11:13-16
Insight
The story of the Bible chronicles the stories of waiting—of individuals, of a nation, and of the early church. Noah waited for the rain to begin and the floods to subside; Abraham and Sarah waited for a son; Joseph waited to be reunited with family; the Israelites waited to be freed from slavery, to enter the promised land, to be freed from exile, and for the Messiah to save them. Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, lists many individuals throughout biblical history who by faith waited but “did not receive the things promised,” only seeing “them from a distance” (v. 13). Today we wait for Christ’s return and an end to sorrow, pain, and death. We’re longing for “a better country”—heaven (v. 16). The author of Hebrews tells us to “hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (10:23).
Message: More than two hundred million people from a variety of faiths undertake a pilgrimage each year. For many throughout the ages, a pilgrim’s task has been to journey to a sacred place to receive some kind of blessing. It’s been all about reaching the temple, cathedral, shrine, or other destination where a blessing can be received.
Britain’s Celtic Christians, however, saw pilgrimage differently. They set out directionless into the wild or let their boats drift wherever the oceans took them—pilgrimage for them being about trusting God in unfamiliar territory. Any blessing was found not at the destination but along the journey.
Hebrews 11 was an important passage for the Celts. Since the life in Christ is about leaving the world’s ways behind and trekking like foreigners to the city of God (vv. 13-16), a pilgrimage echoed their life’s journey. By trusting God to provide along their difficult, untrodden path, the pilgrim grew the kind of faith lived by the heroes of old (vv. 1-12).
What a lesson to learn, whether we physically trek or not: for those who have trusted Jesus, life is a pilgrimage to God’s heavenly country, full of dark forests, dead ends, and trials. As we journey through, may we not miss the blessing of experiencing God’s provision along the way.
Reflect & Pray
How can you be open today to receiving God’s gifts along life’s path? How can you remind yourself that this world, as it is now, isn’t your real home?
Dear God, thank You for showing me that life’s trials are opportunities for me to grow a deeper faith in You.
Learn more about gardens and the history of humanity.