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.
"When the Lord heard what you said, he was angry and solemnly swore: "Not a man of this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your forefathers, except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly."
Because of you the Lord became angry with me also and said, "You shall not enter it, either. But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it. And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad — they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it. But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea."
Then you replied, "We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us." So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.
But the Lord said to me, "Tell them, 'Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.' "
So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the Lord's command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country. The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees and beat you down from Seir all the way to Hormah. You came back and wept before the Lord, but he paid no attention to your weeping and turned a deaf ear to you. And so you stayed in Kadesh many days—all the time you spent there." Deuteronomy 1:34-46
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
“Want to gain an immediate appreciation for who God is? Take a moment to imagine a life without Him.” These were my words at the end of the last devotional titled, “Do you trust Him?”
Well, Israel didn’t have to consider it. They actually experienced it as we see at the very end of Deuteronomy. Because after they decided to turn away from God by not trusting Him, He in turn turned away from them while they were at Kadesh.
As today’s passage starts, we see an angry God proclaim to Israel, “Not a man of this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your forefathers, except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly." And His anger not only burned toward Israel. Even Moses had violated God, the One who had singled him out and entrusted with so much responsibility in spiritual leadership. Along with Aaron, you’ll recall that Moses took credit for being able to bring water from rock when it was really only through God’s power. (Numbers 20) Their respective decisions led to them not be able to see the Promised Land, a point that God drives home in Deuteronomy as He says, “You (Moses) shall not enter it, either. But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it.”
Israel, finally struck with the gravity of their sinful decision, decided to fall back on what they had always done when they got into trouble…cry out for forgiveness. They say to God, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us" and “every one…put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.”
This is sort of like what a young child does when they know they are in trouble for not doing something they were supposed to do. They suddenly say they are sorry after they know they are in trouble and reverse their stubborn disobedience, all too willing to do what they were supposed to do in the first place with the hope that they will be spared punishment. And rarely does this tact ever work. It’s too late at that point and discipline comes with the hope that next time a choice to be obedient comes around, there will only be compliance instead of resistance.
Israel thinks that God will return to their side and allow bygones to be bygones if they just say they had made a mistake and do what God wanted them to do in the first place: go, claim the land He promised and fight those who currently inhabited the land. In response to their tactic, God tells them, “Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.” They had turned on God and showed they didn’t trust Him. Now, they would show they weren’t willing to listen to Him either.
For scripture tells us they “rebelled against the Lord's command and, “in…arrogance marched up into the hill country”. The end results aren’t surprising as the Amorites who lived in the hills came out against Israel and “chased (them) like a swarm of bees” beating them “down from Seir…to Hormah”. Returning to Kadesh, Israel “wept before the Lord” but scripture tells us “He paid no attention” and “turned a deaf ear”.
Israel had lost God’s favor and tried to go on without Him, even after He warned them not to. They found out that failure follows any action in which God is not involved. And so too is it with us.
For believe it or not, there are times in our lives when God is not with us. Like when we are completely consumed and saturated with sin. This is because God hates sin and will not be partnered with it. Even Jesus, God’s beloved Son and our Savior, laden with the sins of the world as He hung on the cross, experienced the anguish that comes with having God absent. Remember His words from the cross:
“From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" — which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Matthew 27:45-46
God could not even be with His Son at the time of His greatest need…all because of the sin He took upon Himself…our sin…the very sin we still want to cling to and possess, alienating ourselves from God in the process…just as Israel chose to do.
Question: Where are you at spiritually…saturated with sin or saturated with the Spirit? Who is your master…Satan or God?
Friends when it all comes down to it, we all have a choice to make. We can partner with God or sin. Whichever you choose to partner with will be your master. Partner with sin and don’t expect God to be in the midst of it. Turn from it…and do so sincerely…and you’re taking the first steps toward reconciliation with the only One through which you can survive life…now and eternally. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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