Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Numbers Chapters 13-15

13:17 - True the Lord ordered Moses to send people into the Promised Land to do some research, but it seems to me that Moses changes the tone of what God wanted from the mission in verse 17. Instead of going into the land to figure out the best way to attack, they went in to see if the land was good and to see if the people were strong. Do you see the difference there? Moses seems to have a doubtful attitude about the Promised Land - is it really as good as God said it would be? Can we really defeat the people in this land? The spies might have taken Moses doubts to heart, because they come back scared and doubtful of the power of God to bring them victory. Do you ever over think things that God has called you too? Do you ever fail to move because you have thought of every reason why you will fail instead of the power of God working through you?

13:30 - Caleb is a faithful voice crying out for the people to trust God and act, yet he is completely ignored.

14:11 - This question that God asks is so heartbreaking to me. How long will these people hate me? I wonder how many times He's asked that in conjunction with my heart and actions? Again, the people choose to ignore the power of God and everything He has done for them and they turn their backs on Him. They allow their fears to become more crucial to their decisions than their faith in God. We must fight with everything we have to be constantly aware of the power of goodness of God...of His faithfulness to us, so that we will be able to act when called upon.

14:31 - Just another example of God using the weak to shame the strong. The people say that they don't want to go into the Promised Land because they think their children will be enslaved by the powerful people there (Hiding their lack of faith behind, "But, it's for the children..." - lame!), but the reality is that the adult Israelites are all enslaved to their fears and faithlessness. The irony is that their children are going to be the generation that has the faith to break free of those bonds of fear and take over the Promised Land.

14:44 - They rejected God...so He says they are never going to get into the Promised Land. Now they reject Him again and try to go into the Promised Land anyway without God's help...and they pay a very steep price in blood and life. How many times do we have to see how much more simply and peacefully life goes by when we trust God from the beginning?

15:32ff - Why is this man punished so harshly? Let me try to explain. They are in a desert...it is very warm. They have food called manna which does not need to be cooked. They have been told explicitly - numerous times - that they are not to work on the Sabbath as part of their worship of God. Knowing all this, the man goes out anyway to gather firewood. This man goes out of his way to rebel against God and he does it for something that is totally unnecessary. He has acted in a "high-handed" manner as described in verses 30 and 31...he has utterly turned against God.

15:38 - God made us, so He knows that visual reminders help us. The Israelites will be reminded to follow the commands by the man who was killed for working on the Sabbath and because they will always be wearing tassels that remind them of their covenant with God. What do you have in your life to constantly remind you to connect with God and honor Him?

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