Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“Then, as the Lord our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites through all that vast and dreadful desert that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea. Then I said to you, "You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."
Then all of you came to me and said, "Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to."
The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe. They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and explored it. Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, "It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us."
But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You grumbled in your tents and said, "The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart. They say, 'The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.' "
Then I said to you, "Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place."
In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.” Deuteronomy 1:19-33
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As we move toward to end of Deuteronomy, Chapter 1, we find Israel reaching Kadesh Barnea after traveling toward the “hill country of the Amorites through all that vast and dreadful desert”. Upon arrival, Moses told the people, “…the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." You would have thought that Israel, after such a long exodus would have jumped at the opportunity to finally reach the land that was touted as being flowing with milk and honey…a covenant land of blessing promised to Abraham by God with the promise passed down through the generations to this very time and place.
But Israel didn’t immediately enter the land. Scripture tells us they went to Moses and said, “Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to." So Moses, thinking the idea was sound, selected twelve of the Israelites, “one man from each tribe” and “they left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and explored it”. They took “some of the fruit of the land” and brought it back to the people as they made the report, "It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us."
So all was set right? God had promised the land as well as assuring Israel He would be with them. And the advance scouts made good report…at least here in Deuteronomy. This is why it’s important to know ALL the scriptures because you’ll recall from Numbers, Chapter 13, that the scouts not only reported that the land was flowing with milk and honey as they showed the fruit that they had taken but they also made the following statement:
“…the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan."
But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them." (Numbers 13:28-33)
Despite Caleb’s rebuttal and encouragement ("We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."), the people became frightened and lost their faith in the One who had delivered them all the way to this point…and was ready to deliver them into Canaan as well.
Back to Deuteronomy. This is what led Moses to say, “But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You grumbled in your tents and said, "The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart. They say, 'The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.' " You’ll further recall that the Israelites actually started to complain that they were better off as slaves back in Egypt than they were in their present position. Truly, the people were rebelling and disobeying the Lord and His expectations for Him. They were also denying the blessing He had put in place for them.
Even support from Moses fell on deaf ears. He had tried to reassure his people saying, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place." Indeed, God had been with them and had taken them through so much. How quickly Israel forgot about God’s goodness and providence.
So they refused to “trust in the Lord” who had “went ahead” of them on their journey “in fire by night and in a cloud by day”, searching for places where Israel could camp and showing them the way they were to go.
How much are we like the people of Israel? How often do we forget how very far God has taken us in our lives…losing our faith as soon as difficulty arises? How quick are we to feel like God has left us when we face a trial, as if He never promised us we would face challenges in life that were intended to help us grow in our faith, not abandon it? And how fast do we forget that He promised us He would never leave us nor forsake us…that He would never give us a burden we couldn’t bear…not by way of our own strength but only by His strength residing within us?
Friends, this scripture calls us to a reassessment as to where we stand in our own personal relationship with the Lord who has created us and blessed us with everything we know and have. If we have anything short of unconditional trust in Him, then we need to step back, pray, open the bible and allow the Holy Spirit to enter our hearts, recharging our faith and renewing our belief in the One through which all things are possible. Is there any miracle too great for God? Is there anything beyond the work of His mighty hands?
Want to gain an immediate appreciation for who God is? Take a moment to imagine a life without Him. It’s really as simple as that. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
http://www.faithhopeandlove.info/
Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment