February 9 | The Covenant Relationship Between God and the Israelites

Today’s Reading:

Read Exodus 23:1-6; 12, 14-17; 24:12

In Genesis 15 we read about a special covenant relationship between God and Abraham. In Exodus, we are learning how God wants to continue that covenant with Abraham’s descendants, the Israelites. To do that, God gave Moses some specific guidelines to help the Israelites continue to pursue a meaningful relationship with God. God was outlining the way the Israelites were to live under the covenant.

God gave some instructions about how they were to live, what they were to eat, how they were to treat other people, how they were to worship Him. It was a lot! But the Israelites wanted to do what God asked them to do. In Exodus 24:3, the Israelites answered Moses with one voice in response to God’s message to them, “We will do everything the Lord commanded.” They knew it was a lot and that it would be a challenge. But they promised to be obedient and do everything God told them to do. What do you think happened with the Israelites and this promise? The more we read, the more we will find out!

Application/Prayer:

Do you think you could follow everything that God was telling the Israelites to do? Isn’t it great to know that Jesus forgives us if we can’t do that? We should do our best to obey what God is asking us to do. But thankfully we can have peace knowing that if we ever mess up, God will always forgive us!

February Memory Verse:

“For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Hebrews 4:12

Using the daily reading prompts from George H. Guthrie’s Read the Bible for Life, here’s how to use this devotional:

Bring your Bible! Your kids need to see that everything you are reading to them or learning about comes from an actual Bible!
Each day starts with a reading prompt. Read the selection as a family. If your kids are readers, encourage them to read along with you.
After you’ve read the passage, read the short devotional thought that goes along with each passage.
Prayer and application are important any time we read God’s word! After each devotional, there is a challenge to help apply what your family has read that day.
There is a reading for six days of the week. The last reading of the week is a Gospel Conversation Prompt to help you connect the reading from the week with God’s plan for salvation.