Exodus chapter 19

4 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.

5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,

6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.

This is the fulfilment of the Lord's promise to Abraham, and the people respond by saying that they would do everything the Lord commanded.

But words are cheap, and it is easy to say you will follow God when things are going well. Here, they had miraculously escaped from Egypt and seen Pharaoh's army destroyed. Water and food had been provided, and they knew it was from God. So whilst they were there in the desert, with no running water, hot baths and showers, comfy bed, computers, microwaves, cars and all the other things we take so much for granted these days, they knew that all they had was from God. But times were going to get hard for them, and what then?

What about us, when things get hard for us? It has to be a case of trusting in God at all times, through the good and the bad, and to take each day one at a time. To daily approach the throne of God and ask for help to get through the day, to deal with whatever the day will throw at us. This is one of the reasons why we need to have a quiet time, to spend time with God, with Jesus, to let the Holy Spirit fill us anew each day. It is so easy to forgo this, to get involved in checking emails, clicking on links and browsing the internet, starting work straight away or having to sort the children out and oops, before you know it the day has gone, and where was that quiet time? I know I have to make a conscious effort each day, to deliberately stop what I am doing and spend time with God. Some days I succeed, others I don't. But the day always goes far better when I start with time with God.

But I want to walk in the Kingdom light, I want to walk and talk with God all the time. Life is hectic, and is, for me, liable to get even more so between now and the end of January (one of the downsides of being an accountant in the UK with tax return filing deadlines on 31 January!). So I make the time wherever I can. I may not always have time first thing, but in the car, after taking the children to school to work, then on the way to and from meetings, there are always snippets in each day where I can spend time with God. So I am trying to develop the habit of using all these moments, to make the best possible use of my time, as I do have a tendency to be very lazy!