"...and you may be sure that your sin will find you out."
Numbers 32:23
Numbers 32:23
My Take Aways
Something Old:
Someone will reap the repercussions for my sin.
Something New:
They Israelites were given instructions in very simple language
You must:
- Drive out all the people living there
- Destroy all carved and molten images
- Demolish all pagan shrines
- Distribute the land among the clans
Don't settle for the east side of my Promised Land no matter how green the grass and fertile the soil seems.
Friends
I did very well with my challenge from yesterday, the challenge of not talking negative and praising God instead. Only three times did I impulsively speak (at other drivers) but my spirit was quickened then I repented. It is a lot easier to say than to do.
11 Comments:
Wendy,...WOW, isn't God's word amazing. I just wanted to pop in and say "Thanks". I love what you've brought to light today.
Great Vlog, Wendy. Settling this side of the Promised Land is too easy to do. It feels comfortable and "good enough". May the Lord show me where I am settling too soon and not keeping my eyes on his ultimate plan for me.
Something old: You MUST destroy all their carved images and shrines. You MUST drive out all the people living there. You MUST distribute the land among the clans. I MUST obey God.
Something New: A man named Nobah captured the town and renamed that area Nobah after himself. I wonder the significance of this?
Nugget: The Lord had defeated the gods of Egypt that night with great acts of judgement! What are my gods the Lord will defeat? Better I confess them now and ask God to help me rid myself of them.
Happy Wednesday!
Morgen
Wendy, thank you and bless you for giving us awesome teaching to wake up to each morning, even in the midst of your very busy schedule!
Ive been loving the tidbits of James you have been giving us lately, and I can't wait to get to that book.
Nancy, continuing prayers for you and Tom. I hope he is doing well.
Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone.
Peace,
Michelle in New England
Even though the 2 tribes had experienced the power of God, provisions and judgement, they didn't have faith to wait until the Promised Land was conquered before setttling down.
Guilty.It is hard to live by faith and not by sight. I need reminded that this isn't my home, I'm just passing through. We haven't reached the Promised Land yet.
However, I still have a lot of junk and excess baggage I'm carrying. How about you?
Did you notice verse 23-be sure your sins will find you out? Matthew Henry tells us to repent and forsake our sins or they will ruin us. I have to keep practicing this daily. Sooner or later we will reap what we sow-good and bad.
Have a wonderful Wednesday.
Linda from Ark.
Good Morning Everyone!
I loved reading about the journey the Israelites have been on...40 or so years have passed since God foretold Moses that He would lead them to the land He had promised to Abrahan. Can you just imagine their hope right now? The anticipation of being in the Promised Land!
Then we have those - mentioned tribes, decide they'd rather remain on the eastern side of the Jordan. They "owned vast numbers of livestock" (32:1) and I'm sure they were thinking about the money! For them it was a financial decision, but ahhhhh, but, what kind of spiritual choice were they making? These 2 1/2 tribes were allowing their worldly interests to influence them. By giving in to their 'wants' they were choosing to not be unified with God's chosen people. They were also choosing to not live near those that believed in God and were able to worship regularly in the presence of God at the Tabernacle. They were going to live near the heathen neighbors on the east side of Jordon which will soon lead them farther away from God.
We need to remember that we cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).
My To Do:
*To stay in God's Word, daily, in order to know His perfect will for my day.
*To always remain near Believers who will point me back to God's Truth.
*To never give up meeting together with a body of Believers.
*To spend my days praising and thanking the LORD!
Enjoy His Presence, today, everyone! Blessings, Lori
PS Yeah! We have a new Believer joining us in eternity! PTL! Thanks for passing on this on to us dear Wendy!
You're right Wendy, as we will see when we get to the NT (Mark) these people did not fare well (clue: the cows have been replaced by pigs - unclean animals). I love how everything in the bible is interrelated.
As for the chronicles of their travels in Ch. 33, this is what Jon Courson said: "...I suggest it was because this is God's scrapbook. He was traveling with His children for 40 years and these places are memorable to Him. They might seem boring to you or insignificant to us, (he likened it to a friend showing his vacation pictures) that is what is happening here. At the end of this 40 year camping trip, God says "I want our journey remembered in perfect order. Make a record of all the places we went together.
He further summarized:
1. "Our Father remembers where we've been...God never forgets anything we've done. Whenever we've done what He's led us to do, He records it, remembers it, and eventually rewards it. He never forgets - not a single work.
"God has led you from stop to stop, place to place that you have long since forgotten about but God says, "I remember when you chose to do what I led you to do, when you pitched your tent where I told you to pitch. It's in my book. It might be boring to others, forgotten by you, but it's important to me."" (This is a Selah moment.)
2. "Our Father forgets about our sin...In this account there is something hunge missing...the 38 years in the wilderness due to their unbelief. In other words, the Father records exactingly and carefully every single spot where they pitched their tents in obedience to His leading. But when they were in sin, there is no mention, no record, no memory as far as He is concerned." This brought me back to what Moses told Reuben and Gad: surely, your sins will find you out. Courson said this is not God hunting us down and reminding us of our sin because we see in Chapter 33 that it is not recorded. It is against the nature of our Father. Due to the finished work of the Cross, God not only forgives our sins but He buries it in the sea of His forgetfulness (heb 10:17). He said, "It is sin itself that will come to fruition...See Gal 6: whatever I sow, I will reap. Everytime I sin,that sin will sooner or later track me down, find me out and humiliate me. But it's not God doing so. Rather it's the work of the enemy to not only seduce us into sin but to expose and humiliate us through it."
Happy Wednesday Everybody,
Wendy, Thank you so much for taking us back to Genesis….This does make more sense to me now. Through some searching I came up with this article from a great web-site.
32:4 A Land for Cattle
THE DANGERS OF PRIDE. PATERIUS: There are some in the church who despise being little ones. Even where humility should prevail, they hardly cease being grand in their own eyes. You can see them being exalted with honors, enjoying pleasures, being entertained by the sheer number of things. Often they seek nothing except being in command of others. They enjoy being feared by many. They fail to live upright lives yet desire to be known as leading an upright life. They seek out flatterers; they swell up with admiration shown them. Since they are eager for things in the present life, they do not seek the joys to come. When complex business occupies them, it demonstrates that they are absent even from themselves.
But if a temptation against faith arises—for in this area they are quite restrained—they defend the faith by words and labors. They defend the heavenly fatherland, but they do not love it. In the books of Moses, the sons of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh exemplify these men well. They possessed great flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. While they were beyond the Jordan, they wanted the pastureland that they saw. They did not wish to have their inheritance in the land of promise and said, “The land that the Lord struck in the sight of the sons of Israel is a rich region, good for pasturing animals; and we, your servants, have great herds. We ask you, if we find favor before you, to give us, your servants, this land as our possession, and do not make us cross the Jordan.” They own many cattle and refuse to cross the Jordan.
Those who have many entanglements in this world do not seek a dwelling in the heavenly fatherland. Those entanglements hold them by their appearance. Faith threatens them, lest they grow languid in their enjoyment of leisure. By their example, they keep others from putting up with work and from dedication to patience. Thus God says to them through Moses, “Will your brethren go to battle, and you will sit here? Why do you undermine the hearts of the children of Israel?” Since they blushed at not defending what they believed, they hasten to battle for the same faith that they professed and defend it, not for themselves but for their neighbor.
So they say to Moses, “We will build folds for our sheep and stables for our cattle and fortified cities for our little ones; but we will go forth to battle armed and girded before the children of Israel.” They go forth as brave men for others; they free the land of promise from their enemies and then leave it and return to feed their flocks across the Jordan.
By analogy many people, although they are believers, are occupied with present cares, as if they were feeding flocks across the Jordan. Contrary to the faith they professed in baptism, they serve perishable things with their whole minds and all their desires. But, as we said, when a temptation against faith arises, they gird on arms to defend it. They cut down the enemies of the faith and conquer them and defend the heritage of the land of promise. That is, they do not love the fruits of faith and fight for it in such a way that they leave the spoils of the battle outside the faith. Because they have little ones outside the land, they do not love to dwell in it. So they return to the plains, because they will fall off the high peaks of the mountains as they do from hope for heavenly things. Outside the land of promise they pasture brute animals, because they work to pasture the irrational movements of the soul with empty desires. They do not know how clear the eternal light is, because they are blinded by transitory concerns. And while they take pride in earthly things, they shut the door to heavenly light. EXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. Numbers 23
Rhonda
Happy Wed. everyone!
Amy V. here: I also wrote down in my notes the verse about my sin finding me out....wow that's a scary thought! I wanted to mention another verse that jumped off the page at me: 32:7 when Moses asks "Why do you want to discourage the rest of the people of Israel from going across to the land the Lord has given them?" The word DISCOURAGED really is what caught my attention. As we've been reading we've seen how prone Israel was to straying from God/complaining/whining, etc. I realized just how much my words/actions may discourage/encourage others.
This old testament verse really speaks to me and I'm going to continue with Wendy's challenge from yesterday....to speak praises to God because I want to make a habit of having my words/actions be a positive influence on those around me.
~Amy
Hi Wendy,
This is my first time posting thoughts though I have been reading along.
Old: From an entire generation of people, only Joshua and Caleb followed the Lord wholeheartedly.
New: Reuben and Gad wanted to remain on the east side of the Jordan because the land looked "ideally suited for their flocks and herds." They gave up the Promised Land for 'good enough' before they ever saw the Promised Land.
Do: Obey the Lord wholeheartedly. Don't stop short of God's promises no matter what looks ideal.
Stephanie, my thoughts exactly! At first I was really irritated at those 2 1/2 tribes, but it made me wonder: how often do I stop short of what God has planned for me? How often do I tell Him, "No, thank You" to His offered Promised Land? I need to clean out my spiritual ears and maybe an ear trumpet and start listening better. I don't want to settle!
Wow! Great thoughts! Don't settle for less b/c you THINK you won't get more. I really enjoyed your video today and took more notes than normal. Your first comment about the couple stood out to me b/c my husband and I are in a similar situation.
Old: It took them 49 yrs to cross the dessert to Jericoh. Just think, if they obeyed more & complained less, they could have made the journey in weeks instead of years.
New: I did not realize that some chose to settle before getting to the Promise Land! The battle hadn't even begun, and they chose to stay. Even though they were willing to fight, they wanted to come back. How many times does God take us through a battle and we chose to come back to a place after God brought us through it?
To Do: Obey God at all times. Not obeying Him can lead others astray. Not obeying means punishment. God keeps His Word to us, we should do the same.
My complaining & disobeidence make my journey longer than it need be.
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