When my boys were smaller and it was time for bed, they would often ask if they could “be a sack of potatoes.” I would pick them up by their legs, sling them over my shoulder and climb the stairs to their room. I’d fling them into their bed the way a farmer tosses a 50-pound bag of spuds onto the back of a truck. They loved it.

My boys are larger now, and this ritual has passed. I’m still their father, however, and I’ll continue to carry them in other ways—over trials and rough spots, through joys and pains.

As Moses prepared Israel for the last leg of their wilderness wanderings, he narrated a review of the paths Israel had traveled—the many twists and turns that had led them to this moment. Moses reminded them of God’s thundering voice at Mount Sinai (Deuteronomy 1:6-8) and the growth of their burgeoning nation (Deuteronomy 1:9-18). Moses recounted how they sent scouts to spy out the land God had promised and how the people balked at obeying His instructions to move into their new territory (Deuteronomy 1:26-33).

Yet Israel was once again at a crossroads. They would have to choose whether or not they would obey God’s instructions. It was a frightening thing to confront their powerful enemies and step into the homeland God had prepared for them. Obeying God is almost always a frightening thing. God promised to be with them, however. “The Lord your God is going ahead of you,” Moses reminded them. “He will fight for you, just as you saw Him do in Egypt” (Deuteronomy 1:30).

Like a good father, God would carry them “as a parent carries a child” (Deuteronomy 1:31 CEB). No matter what would come, they would be in the safest place possible: carried in the arms of God.

NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: 2 Samuel 18:1-18