Blessing and Curses

I'm reading through Deuteronomy 28 and I'm overwhelmed by the weight of blessings and curses.  Moses is encouraging and warning the people.  He is telling them if they faithfully obey the Lord and carefully follow all of his commands, God would place them far above all the nations of the earth (Deu. 28:1).  He goes on to list all the blessings they would receive.  Their land would be blessed and produce an abundance of food.  Their offspring would be many and they would not be in need.  God would give them peace from all of their enemies.  God would establish them as a holy people if they obey the commands of the Lord and walk in his ways (Deu. 28:9).  In verse 10 he says, "Then all the people of the earth will see that you bear the Lord's name, and they will stand in awe of you."  

Moses then turns to what will happen to them if they do not obey the Lord.  All the blessings will turn to curses.  The land would reject them and they would be plagued by disease.  They would lose everything and their enemies would overtake them and they would be scattered as a people. Reading the list of things that would happen to them is long and detailed and its overwhelming to read.  The sad reality is as you read the rest of the story you know Israel would in fact turn from God and would suffer greatly.   

I cannot help reading this to be overwhelmed by my own sin and how I fall short of God's standard.  I have failed on many levels and I am at God's mercy.  Which makes me all the more thankful for Jesus Christ.  Because God knows our condition and he knows our hearts are hard and we can't and we don't want to follow God.  But there is hope, though we are dead in our trespasses and sin, God who is rich in mercy and because of his great love for us made us alive in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:4).  In his grace, he makes us a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) and he replaces our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh.  He has put his Spirit within us that moves us to follow his statues and to observe his ordinances (Ezekiel 36:26-27).   

God has had mercy on us, he saw our helpless condition and has had pity on us. "For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).  You have before you a blessing and a curse, believe and live!    

I will Praise You!

I will Praise you!

"I will praise you, Lord, among the peoples; I will sing the praises to you among the nations. For your faithful love is as high as heaven; your faithfulness reaches the clouds. God, be exalted above the heavens; let your glory be over the whole earth" Psalm 57: 9-11 CSB

The Psalmist is asking for God's gracious protection, I call to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.  He reaches down from heaven and saves me, challenging to the one who tramples me.  God sends his faithful love and truth. (Ps. 57:2-3) I read this and my heart soars! I'm in trouble I have an enemy who want to see me destroyed.  In my own strength, I am powerless against this enemy who want to keep me in chains of sin.  Reading this I am reminded it is God who fulfills his purpose in me.  He is the wind beneath my wings.  He has reached down from heaven and he challenges the one who would imprison me.  He defeated him by sending his faithful love and truth.  "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  We observed his glory, the glory of the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)

God reached down!  He descended and dwelt among us!  He rescued us from our sin, he rescued us from our enemy.  We are free in Christ and God has been gracious to us!  Oh, I will praise my Lord, I tell people of his glory.  I will praise him from the roof top of my life and nations will hear!  I will tell of his faithful love that is higher than the heavens.  He is exalted and his glory fills the earth!   

I don't know where you are this morning. Maybe you feel defeated and worn down.  This morning I just want to encourage you in the Lord.  Realize the extraordinary lengths the Lord endured to secure your salvation.  How he has crushed the enemy and he no longer has anything to hold over you.  Jesus paid it all and we can take refuge in Him.  Praise him today! 

Rebellion!

"You have gone too far! Everyone in the entire community is holy, and the Lord is among them.  Why then do you exalt yourself above the Lord's assembly" Numbers 16:3b CSB

When Moses and Aaron heard these words from Korah, a Levite who wasn't happy with his limited role in the function of the tabernacle, they fell face down.  Korah was leading a rebelling again Moses and against God's established order.  Seeing Moses and Aaron fall on their faces should have been an indication this wasn't a good thing to do. 

The next day Moses has the 250 men in rebellion stand before the tent of meeting with firepans containing incense to be an offering to the Lord.  He did this to prove to the people who God accepts as leaders.  God tells Moses and Aaron to step away from all the people because he is going to consume them instantly. (Num. 16:21) But Moses intercedes for the people and request that only the leaders and those who joined them in the rebellion be punished. God tells Moses to have the people move away from the tents and all the belongings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. 

In front of the people Moses says if these men die naturally then you know I am not sent by God.  But if the ground opens up and swallows them and all that they own including their families, you will know these men are guilty of despising the Lord. (Num. 16:30) As the last word left Moses' mouth the ground opened up and swallowed them and their household!  (Num. 16:31) At the same time the 250 men who joined the rebelled and were standing in front of the tent of meeting, were instantly consumed by fire. 

Reading this story is shocking and at the same time invokes a sense of awe of a holy God.  God doesn't allow for sin to go unpunished. Those who rebel against him and his leaders are quickly removed without mercy.  God is teaching his people unyielding obedience. Reading this I realize I wouldn't stand a chance in the desert. I would have been one of those who died in the widerness. 

Which makes me extremely thankful for Jesus Christ.  Isaiah 53:12 says, "Therefore I will give him the many as a portion, and he will receive the mighty as spoil, because he was willingly submitted to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet he bore the sin of the many and interceded for the rebels." 

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Jesus paid the price of my rebellion.  Jesus died for my sin and God poured out his wrath upon him satisfying his righteousness. Christ paid it all and I am forgiven.  I can stand before a holy and righteous God justified by faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God.  The rebellion of my heart has been vanquished and I now live in peace with God. 

We Need Meat!!

"You will eat, not for one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, but you will eat for a whole month--until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes nauseating to you--because you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and wept before him: "Why did we ever leave Egypt" Numbers 11:19-20 CSB

The people of Israel are out in the wilderness and there is 1.5 million of them.  God is with them and he is providing for them in a place where there is nothing!  He feeds them with manna which falls every morning with the dew.  The people pick up what they need and grind it, boil it and form it into cakes.  "It taste like a pastry cooked with the finest oil." (Num. 11:8) But the people are not happy, they want meat!  They long for the time when they were in Egypt and had free fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. (Num. 11:4) Somehow, they forgot while they were in Egypt they were slaves, in bondage!

They people had rejected God and longed to go back to their former life.  Families stand outside their tents and weeping and crying out.  Moses their leader and their advocate to God, can't take it anymore and wishes God would just kill him (Num. 11:15).  As a result, God's anger burns against the people--he is very angry.  God tells the people they are going to get meat.  He gives them exactly what they want in abundance. He blows quail into the camp and the people gather them all day and night.  "Even while the meat was between their teeth, before it was chewed, the Lord's anger burned against the people, and the Lord struck them with a very severe plague." (Num. 11:33)

It's a terrible thing when God hands you over to your desires!  God gave the people what they wanted as punishment.  But this chapter also has Moses complaining about leading.  What is the difference between the people's complaining and Moses complaining?  The people rejected God and wanted to go back to slavery.  Moses was trying to follow God and was overwhelmed leading the people.  Moses was in over his head and needed help and God had compassion on him.  He gave him 70 leaders to help him lead.  He gave the people quail, a lot of quail.

The real story I see in this chapter is God building Moses' faith.  He provides Moses help by giving him leaders.  But even after that Moses questions his ability to provide meat for the people.  God answers Moses, "Is the Lord's arm weak?" Now you will see whether or not what I have promised will happen to you."  (Num. 11:23) God provided Moses all he needed and at the same built Moses' confidence in God's faithfulness to answering his promises.

What situation in your life has overwhelmed you and you find yourself in time of need.  Turn to God and ask him for help and expect God to answer you.  The answer may not come back as you wanted, but I promise it will build your faith in God's faithfulness!