Ultimate Empowerment of the Spirit

Today's Reading:

• Numbers 10:1 - 11:23
  
• Numbers 11:24 - 13:33

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Numbers 10:1 - 13:33
I decided to continue on in my reading of Numbers today because the first reading stopped in the middle of a story I was interested in finishing.  The Israelites were once again complaining, this time about meat.

The complaining must have gotten really bad because Moses got very mad and told the Lord so.  The verses where Moses spoke against the Lord are contained in 10:11 - 15.  I was surprised with the candor of his speech to the Lord.  Moses asks the Lord what he did to deserve this burden, and why must he carry them in his arms like a mother carries a nursing baby?  Moses ends it by telling the Lord to go ahead and kill him.

Have you ever been extremely angry with the Lord?  I honestly can't think of a time that I have.  I think I'm too afraid to be angry at the Lord.  Moses didn't seem afraid though.  He must have been insanely frustrated to go off like that.  I can't say I blame him either.  Just reading about how the Israelites moaned about everything, and how many times they said they were better off as slaves in Egypt.  That's a topic I've covered before (multiple times even), and is a topic for another day.  All I can say is it's surprising Moses didn't blow up earlier. 


At this point the Lord told Moses to gather 70 elders and leaders from amongst the people of Israel.  The Lord then sent His spirit upon those 70 so that Moses would have help with this burden.  I have commented time and time again how wonderful it would have been in those days to live with the Lord's actual presence.  My post from yesterday reflected heavily on this. 

It seems I was making one very wrong assumption about how wonderful it would be to be guided by the Lord's presence -- I was making the assumption that His spirit would both be within me at the same time.  As we know, however, God's relationship with people has changed over these last few millennium.  I realize now that I much prefer this very personal relationship I have with the Lord through Jesus Christ to one where I was just a person following the presence of the Lord, but not experiencing the changes within my heart and spirit that comes with that today.

I guess the ultimate experience that I long for is the one that I will have when I die, or when Jesus returns -- whichever comes first.  When that time comes I imagine I will have the whole package, both pieces to the whole.  The Lord's presence will be inside me and His presence will be all around me, and I will have no doubt of His will and will live to serve Him.  And He will be wonderful to all of us -- all the blessings we have received on earth will not even come close to comparing to the good things that await us then.  We will know nothing but happiness, nothing but His will for us, nothing but life as He wanted us to have from the beginning.  It's a fate too wondrous to fathom with my mortal mind.

Fickle People, When will God be Great Enough for You?

Today's Reading:

• Exodus 32:1 - 33:23
  
• Exodus 34:1 - 35:9

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Exodus 32:1 - 35:9
While Moses was on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights, the people who had been brought out of Egypt were again disgruntled.  They asked Aaron to make for them an idol to worship.  He then instructed them all to given him their gold jewelry, and he melted it down and formed a calf made out of gold.  They then worshiped the calf, thanking the gods for delivering them from Egypt.

I don't know by what patience Moses managed to put up with those people.  I can hardly stand to read about their complete ungratefulness and lack of faith; I couldn't imagine actually having to deal with it all.  And here they go again, with perhaps their worse sin of all -- attributing the works of God to false gods, all when Moses hadn't even been gone for two months.

Both the Lord and Moses were outraged.  Moses called for those faithful to the Lord to slay those who were not, and we are told that 3,000 people were killed at that time (32:28).  The Lord then called for a plague (though it does not say what kind) to fall among the others who had been unfaithful to Him.

People are so fickle and never fail to astonish me.  I read comments on news stories, blogs and opinion articles, and so many of those comments are utterly ridiculous.  Each time I see this I wonder what is wrong with people these days?!  But the more I read the bible, the more I understand that the things going on in the world today and the people of the world today are no worse than the all the people of history.  God literally parted the Red Sea for these people, He delivered them from Egypt with a supernatural display of force, yet so easily they turn -- whining at every bump along the way.

This also goes to show that no matter what is done for other people, no matter what God has helped them to accomplish in their lives, no matter how much we share the gospel and the Lord's love with them -- no matter what, we cannot change another person's heart. 

We can merely pray that their hearts been softened so that they can acknowledge the truth and receive the spirit of Christ into their hearts.  Other than that, people will always be people and there's nothing else that can be done.  After all, we all have free will.

How Can People be so Fickle Towards God?

Today's Reading:

• Exodus 15:19 - 17:7
• Proverbs 6:20 - 26

Looks like I missed posting this reading from Exodus.  Oops, here you go!

Exodus 15:19 - 17:7

The people of Israel continued to celebrate the deliverance of their people from the Egyptians.  This didn't last long because soon enough the people were lacking for water in the desert and complaining to Moses for bringing them out into the wilderness to die of thirst.  The Lord then told Moses to throw a piece of wood into a water hole to make the water drinkable.  

Not long after the Lord provided the Israelites with drinking water, the people were once again complaining to Moses, this time about hunger.  That is when the Lord began to send down the manna in the morning and meat in the evening. As a side note, my bible says that manna means "what is it?" in Hebrew, which I thought was pretty humorous. 

After 40 years of being provided for with manna and meat, the Israelites moved out of the desert.  Soon enough they were complaining again, this time about water.  So Moses followed God's instructions and struck a rock and this brought forward water.

I have to say that the group of people Moses had to deal with were a whiny, faithless bunch!  I know that the Lord will not let me starve to death or die of thirst as long as I have faith in Him.  Even if the Israelites were scared and didn't quite know the Lord, they did at least know that Lord went to great lengths to free them from the Egyptians.

The Lord led these people straight through the Red Sea as if it were dry land and then swallowed all of the Egyptians that were pursuing them!  He rained plague after plague down upon the Egyptians while excluding the Hebrews from those same plagues.  And okay, so the first time they ran out of water they were frightened.  But then the Lord fed them from the heavens every single day for 40 full years!  

How can people be so fickle?  It's one thing to think that God has excluded you from His protection, like you're wondering around by yourself.  It's quite another to see miracle after miracle performed and then still lose your faith so easily.  Could you imagine being the leader of that group of people?  How disheartening and frustrating it would be?  It certainly wasn't easy being Moses.

Proverbs 6:20 - 26

These verses in Proverbs caution us to take heed of our parent's instructions.  Doing so will keep us safe and on a straight path.

As I raise my own children I see how all the things I do for my children -- advice, love, discipline -- are all aimed at the same set of goals.  I want them to grow well, have faith in the Lord, become well rounded adults, find happiness and keep them safe.

I can't be there every single step to stop them, but I can hope that they will remember and keep to heart all that I try to instill upon them.  So listen to your parents, they want what is best for you.  And always listen to the Lord, for no one has your welfare more in mind than He does.