Today’s Reading:
Read Numbers 21:4-8
Today before you begin reading, you are going to take your family on an adventure. Pick one person to be the leader. The leader will choose a destination to take the family inside your home. However, along the way, the leader should stop and find other things to do that will slow down the trip. (You can make this last as long as you want!)
The Israelites set out to wander again through the wilderness. They set out on their way, having to go a longer route because it was safer for them. As they traveled, they became impatient. Does that ever happen to you?
The people spoke out against Moses and against God. Again! They asked again why God brought them out of Egypt just to die in the wilderness – forgetting how horrible it was for them in Egypt.
Another consequence for the Israelites happened and God sent poisonous snakes. Many of the Israelites died. Moses begged God for mercy. (Mercy is when we don’t have to experience the consequence for our action.) Moses knew that the Israelites should be punished but he asked God to have mercy on them and not punish them.
God told Moses to take his staff and to make it look like a snake. Moses was supposed to mount the staff to a pole and the Israelites had to look up at it. If they looked at the snake, they would be healed. God provided a way for the Israelites to be saved, even though they deserved the punishment for their actions.
Application/Prayer:
God provided a way for the Israelites to be saved, if they followed His specific directions. How well do you follow directions?
The Bible gives us specific directions or a way for us to be saved as well. Read John 3:16.
Thank God for sending His son, Jesus, so we can be saved. Thank God for his mercy for us.
March Memory Verse:
He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Matthew 4:4
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.
Other Resources:
March memory verse coloring sheet