DOES HE STILL FEEL THE NAILS?

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.

“Next we turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan with his whole army marched out to meet us in battle at Edrei. The Lord said to me, "Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon."

So the Lord our God also gave into our hands Og king of Bashan and all his army. We struck them down, leaving no survivors. At that time we took all his cities. There was not one of the sixty cities that we did not take from them—the whole region of Argob, Og's kingdom in Bashan. All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many unwalled villages. We completely destroyed them, as we had done with Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying every city—men, women and children. But all the livestock and the plunder from their cities we carried off for ourselves.

So at that time we took from these two kings of the Amorites the territory east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge as far as Mount Hermon. (Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians; the Amorites call it Senir.) We took all the towns on the plateau, and all Gilead, and all Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, towns of Og's kingdom in Bashan. (Only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaites. His bed was made of iron and was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)

Of the land that we took over at that time, I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory north of Aroer by the Arnon Gorge, including half the hill country of Gilead, together with its towns. The rest of Gilead and also all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half tribe of Manasseh. (The whole region of Argob in Bashan used to be known as a land of the Rephaites. Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites; it was named after him, so that to this day Bashan is called Havvoth Jair.) And I gave Gilead to Makir. But to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory extending from Gilead down to the Arnon Gorge (the middle of the gorge being the border) and out to the Jabbok River, which is the border of the Ammonites. Its western border was the Jordan in the Arabah, from Kinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), below the slopes of Pisgah.

I commanded you at that time: "The Lord your God has given you this land to take possession of it. But all your able-bodied men, armed for battle, must cross over ahead of your brother Israelites. However, your wives, your children and your livestock (I know you have much livestock) may stay in the towns I have given you, until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they too have taken over the land that the LORD your God is giving them, across the Jordan. After that, each of you may go back to the possession I have given you."

At that time I commanded Joshua: "You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God himself will fight for you."

At that time I pleaded with the Lord: "O Sovereign Lord, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do? Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon."

But because of you the Lord was angry with me and would not listen to me. "That is enough," the Lord said. "Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see." So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.” Deuteronomy 3

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Chapter 2 ended with God handing over Sihon, his army and all possessions and territory in Heshbon to Israel. We examined how God was a God of deliverance then and how He remains a God of deliverance today.

As we start Chapter 3, God continues to deliver for Israel as King Og and his kingdom of Bashan become the next to fall. Scripture tells us that “Og…with his whole army marched out to meet (Israel) in battle at Edrei.” And as Og and his army approached, the Lord assured Moses saying, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon."

And so Israel did as the “Lord…gave into (their) hands Og king of Bashan and all his army…leaving no survivors.” Israel “took all (of Og’s) cities”, sixty in all, “completely destroy(ing) them” just as they had “done with Sihon.” And they also took all the “livestock and the plunder” for themselves, just as before.

So what did Israel do with the land they had gained from Heshbon and Bashan? You’ll remember that God gave it to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh. (Numbers 32) You’ll also remember that the men of these tribes were to cross the Jordan River and march with the rest of Israel into battle. Once Israel was victorious, then they would be allowed to re-cross the Jordan and rejoin their families.

The second half of Chapter 3 regards Moses and Joshua. We see first how Moses encourages Joshua as Israel is on the brink of finally entering Canaan. Moses tells Joshua, “You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God himself will fight for you." Note here that Moses does not say “all the kingdoms over there where we are going”. This is because God had already told Moses that he would not be able to enter Canaan because of the incident as Moses and Aaron were about to bring water from a rock for a thirsty Israel. You’ll remember that Moses spoke as if it was his and Aaron’s power that would bring forth the water, leaving God discredited. It was this act that cost Moses and Aaron. Aaron had already died. Moses would follow him soon.

Yet, this didn’t keep Moses from trying one more time to get God to change His mind. He asks Him, “O Sovereign Lord, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do? Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon." What we have here is a classic “butter up” job by Moses as he heaps compliment upon compliment upon the Lord before asking if he could “go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon.” In other words, he was asking God to change His mind.

How did God respond to Moses’ request? Well, He doesn’t say “Thank you for all those kind words Moses and you know, I think I may have been a little hard on you when I passed judgment so I will honor your wishes and you will be allowed to cross the Jordan and enter the land I promised your ancestors.” He definitely doesn’t say that. Instead, the Lord, angry with Moses, refused to listen to him and said, “That is enough. Do not speak to me anymore about this matter.” Clearly, God wasn’t going to grant Moses’ desires. Instead, He told Moses to “commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see." Joshua would soon replace Moses as the leader of Israel.

What should take away from God’s dealings with Moses is that He has His limits. And He has shown this long before now. From all the way back to Adam and Eve, God has sown a deep disdain for anyone who blatantly chooses to violate His commands or guidance. God demands our obedience.

Now you might be saying, that’s a bit harsh. We’re all human, sinful and imperfect. We should be given some slack when it comes to the way we live. And this is just the way Satan wants us to think about life…that we can willfully give into the sin that plagues us and then expect God to just look the other way. God doesn’t operate that way. Why? Because He hates sin.

God hates sin because it was the advent of sin that led to Him sacrificing His only Son Jesus on the cross. Oh how it must have pained the Father to put His Son through so much suffering. And then, with the sins of the world upon Jesus, God couldn’t even be present with His Son at His dying moment. His Son was left to feel forsaken all because of sin.

Friends, it’s time we take a very conscious, zero-tolerance approach to sin. For every time we willfully sin, it as if Jesus has to be crucified all over again to pay the price for it. It’s this conviction that led Ray Boltz to write:

Does he still feel the nails
Every time I fail?
Can he hear the crowd cry "Crucify" again?
Am I causing him pain?
Then I know I've got to change
I just can't bear the thought of hurting him.

Can you bear the thought of hurting Jesus? Do you feel like you have to change? What sin do you have that you need to get rid of?

Friends, we can turn our lives around this very moment. We can decide to turn from Satan and his wicked ways…ways that lead us into a sin that God hates and Jesus suffered because of. We only need to turn to the Holy Spirit and ask for His help. He will enter in and grant you the strength to leave sinfulness behind in exchange for a righteous, holy life…a life like Jesus lived. 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