Daily Topic for October 09, 2008
This certainly seemed like a strange formula for victory. But God’s promise was based on His knowledge that all the earth is His. God didn’t always use such an unusual approach in giving Israel victory over the peoples of Canaan. Usually the men would simply go to the battlefield and fight. But the victory was always the Lord’s. So it is when we take the gospel to the peoples of the world. Sometimes God will move in unusual ways to bring sinners to repentance and believing faith. At other times His messengers must work for years and even decades before seeing fruit from their labors. But the victory is always the Lord’s.
Pray that you will recognize God’s hand at work. Pray for patience and perseverance for those who are spreading the gospel to the unreached.
Od women are restricted to 18 husbands. The Od people have a custom of changing marriage partners freely by negotiation. Polygamy and child marriage are common, with betrothal as early as one year. Consummation of the marriage takes place upon puberty. How can they identify with the marriage covenant God instituted?
These nomadic people change places of residence even more frequently than they change spouses. They claim to have descended from Bhagirath, a great king in Hindu mythology who vowed never to drink from the same well twice. Their jobs encourage a nomadic lifestyle, as many work in road construction and masonry. As a result, their literacy rates are low and their unemployment rate is high. Country made liquor takes its toll on the Od people with sickness and family destruction.
The Od also go by Beldar, Oud or Oudh. They have 19 clans, and these clan names serve as surnames. They speak Odki, but generally can converse in Hindi or Punjabi.
Imagine the instability and insecurity of the Od people being considered “normal.” Children know various people as “father” and “mother.” They have no place that feels like “home.”
Learn more at joshuaproject.netPray for the Od people to embrace the changeless Father and find security in Him. Ask God to send believers who can explain to the Hindu Od how they can become the “bride of Christ.” May their last move be to heaven.-AK