Wayfarer

“Remember” is a word Moses uses three times in today’s chapter. He returns to what Jewish teachers called  zakhor , memories that help build moral muscle. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 24. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Who was in our home last weekend mattered deeply to us. And that reality informed our thoughts, our decisions, and our behavior that day. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 23. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

As I lace ‘em up for this another day on this earthly journey, I’m not so much thinking about what’s out there. I’m thinking about what’s in me. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 22. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

God in today's chapter is not cold—He is careful with blood, with power, with people. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 21. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

There is something innately human—and perhaps especially American—that equates big numbers with success, status, and safety. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 20. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Mercy has an address. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 19. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Faith is not the absence of uncertainty — it is the refusal to worship false certainty. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 18. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

In today’s chapter, Moses prescribes the most astonishing of tasks for every person appointed to the throne: Handwrite a copy of the Torah onto a single scroll - the entirety of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Why? A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 17. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

God does not dwell just in places. He inhabits moments. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 16. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

At Christmas, God provides an eternal object lesson of what Deuteronomy 15 is all about. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 15. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Today’s chapter whispers to me of God’s heart: generous, selfless, and servant-hearted. From the beginning God's prescription for Life flowed from His Spirit of intimacy, community, and generosity in the simple acts of gathering, celebrating, and eating. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 14. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Today’s chapter is jarring, especially at the beginning of the week of Christmas as I hum  O Little Town of Bethlehem . Yet one of the things that I’ve discovered about this Great Story is that everything connects. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 13. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

For eleven chapters Moses has been teaching Israel how to remember. Today, he teaches them how to desire. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 12. The text version may always be found at tomvanderwell.com .

The message I found flowing through the chapter in the quiet this morning was that the danger is not rebellion or disobedience. The danger is forgetting. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 11. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

As I meditated on these things in the quiet this morning, I was amazed at how much it resonated with our current culture and headlines. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 10. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

In the quiet this morning, sentimental twinkle-light memories get balanced with the sobriety of  zakhor  memories. Moral memory isn’t shame, it’s schooling. It’s not reproach, it’s reinforcement of reality. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 9. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Many years ago I memorized Deuteronomy 8:10. I began quietly quoting Deuteronomy 8:10 to myself as a post meal blessing. I didn’t know it, but I had stumbled upon what Jewish tradition calls  Birkat HaMazon . A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 8. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

God promises protection, fruitfulness, and flourishing—not as wages earned, but as the natural overflow of covenant intimacy. Obedience here is not stiff-backed compliance; it’s trust leaning its full weight into the arms of a faithful Lover. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 7. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

In my Bible there is a photograph. I don’t even remember putting it there. I think it randomly surfaced and I just shoved it inside the cover of my bible because it was convenient in the moment. It’s still there years later. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 6. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Suddenly, my life-long perception of ten black-and-white “commands” is laid bare for the hollow and meager interpretive shell it has always been. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 5. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Deuteronomy is Moses taking the face of his people lovingly in his withered hands and looking them in the eye one last time. These are the words of his deathbed. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 4. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Before there was Goliath there was Og, King of Bashan. There are moments for all of us when we’re facing our own giants. Sometimes they are just rumors. Sometimes they are very, very real. In either case, God’s message never changes. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 3. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Today’s chapter is about restraint, timing, and finally stepping into what God has purposed, planned, and prepared. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 2. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

What could and should have been an eleven day trip has taken them 40 years to bring them to this place in this moment — because they were afraid to follow God into the Promised Land. Forty years in the wilderness was not so much punishment as it was spiritual formation. A chapter-a-day podcast from Deuteronomy 1. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Today’s final chapter of Hebrews reads like the last day of camp. A a heart-felt list of loving marching orders from a camp counselor to a tearful camper who doesn’t want to return to “real life.” A chapter-a-day podcast from Hebrews 13. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .