18 April 2024
United with Christ
14 April 2024
Brought Out to Bring Us In
10 April 2024
Anxious or Praying?
04 April 2024
Settling Short of Abundant Life
28 March 2024
Zeal to Save
25 March 2024
God Is More Than Man
20 March 2024
Peace by Faith in God
Unbelief is a killer of rest and peace. When harboured in our hearts, it prevents our healing and restoration to fellowship with God and other believers. The writer of Hebrews explained it was due to unbelief the children of Israel would not and could not enter the land God promised to give them, and their dead carcasses in the wilderness are a warning to all who follow them in unbelief. God was grieved by their unbelief, and they weren't pleased with the prospects of 40 years in the wilderness when they were on the cusp of entering in and receiving their inheritance (Hebrews 3:17-19).
After 10 spies gave a bad report of the land of Canaan, the people felt hopeless and wept--though God remained good, faithful and sovereign. God would defeat the people of Canaan as surely as He delivered them from slavery in Egypt with a mighty hand, but the reports of giants put the people in fear. Unbelief in God and His promise prevented the people from trusting Him. The people decided their best course of action was to choose a new leader and return to Egypt where they were previously enslaved! While they discussed stoning Moses and Aaron, the glory of God appeared in the tabernacle and God spoke. God pronounced a judgment that all of those 20 years and older would die in the wilderness over the next 40 years, and the 10 spies who gave a bad report were struck dead by a plague. You can read about this in Numbers 14.
One would think the people would be humbled before God after His appearance and plagues, but not so. Early the next morning the people presumed to go into the land of Canaan to defeat the inhabitants of the land, even though God was not with them, and they were routed by their enemies. It was not long after this debacle when Korah, Dathan and Abiram in Numbers 16 murmured against Moses and Aaron, and God executed them for their sin by causing the ground to open up and swallow them and all they possessed in the sight of Israel. The 250 men who put incense in their censers also died when fire from the LORD consumed them for their trespass. The following day all the people came against Moses again and accused him of killing "the people of the LORD." God caused a plague to smite the people, and when Aaron made atonement for the sake of the people the plague ceased.
In Numbers 17 God directed Aaron and the leaders of each tribe to present a marked stick and to place them in the tabernacle overnight. God said in Numbers 17:5, "And it shall be that the rod of the man whom I choose will blossom; thus I will rid Myself of the complaints of the children of Israel, which they make against you." It was indeed Aaron's rod that budded and bore almonds overnight, and thus God confirmed Aaron's line of the house of Levi was God's choice to do the service of the LORD. While God's purpose in doing this was to cause the murmuring of the people to cease so they would not die in rebellion, their complaints due to unbelief continued in Numbers 17:12-13: "So the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, "Surely we die, we perish, we all perish! 13 Whoever even comes near the tabernacle of the LORD must die. Shall we all utterly die?" Though they saw God's presence and He made Himself known to them, they misunderstood Him entirely. God aimed to preserve their lives, and they accused Him of killing them for coming near the tabernacle--a falsehood steeped in self-pity and pride.
I'm not sure what is worse: dying in battle by Canaanites in a foolish attempt to deliver oneself from living in the wilderness for years, or to live in the wilderness for years with a heart filled with unbelief in God. How can it be that God's chosen people could imagine He was against them and unworthy of trust? But this clearly can be the case. God said in Isaiah 57:19-21: "I create the fruit of the lips: peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near," says the LORD, "and I will heal him." 20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. 21 "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked." The writer of Hebrews sets forth the children of Israel in the wilderness as a cautionary tale for Christians, that there is rest God has for us we can stop short of entering by unbelief. Faith in God leads to peace with God and healing for broken hearts. If our hearts resemble a troubled sea that kicks up filth of murmuring and complaining, there remains peace and rest for us in Jesus Christ--a rest that is only entered by faith in Him.
17 March 2024
Children of God
13 March 2024
Undivided Loyalty
11 March 2024
The Haman Distortion
10 March 2024
Jesus Is the Man
08 March 2024
Examining God's Love
07 March 2024
Victory of Faith
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled." The weapons of our warfare are not knives or guns, for these would be useless to accomplish what our mighty God can do in pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and anything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. By faith in God we can bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Jesus and be ready to take corrective action upon the disobedient. Only God is sufficient for these things and helps us overcome when we cry out to Him in faith. We do well to remember the way the world fights battles--by force, protests, politics, compromise, propaganda, threats or fear--will never supply the arsenal required to experience genuine victory.
25 February 2024
God's Righteous Judgment
24 February 2024
An Everlasting Love
21 February 2024
One God Regards
08 February 2024
Sacrifice God Loves
07 February 2024
Seeing Yourself in Christ
"'To hope to do better is to fail to see yourself in Christ only.' You say, 'I hope to do better.' You know you're not. You need to see yourself in Christ today and realise that only the Spirit of God moving through you can accomplish this. And then Newell says again, 'To be disappointed with yourself means you believed in yourself.' Somebody says, 'Oh, I'm so disappointed in myself.' Well, you had better be disappointed in yourself. You know no good thing is going to come out of the flesh, friend. Stop believing in yourself, and believe that the Spirit of God today can enable you through the new nature to live for God. Also Newell says, 'To be discouraged is unbelief.' My friend, that means you don't believe God. God has a purpose and a plan, a blessing for you. And you need to lay hold of it. Here is another statement: 'To be proud is to be blind.' We have no standing before God in ourselves. Oh, my friend, see yourself as God sees you. Here is the final gem: 'The lack of divine blessing comes from unbelief, not a failure of devotion.'...My friend, the lack of divine blessing comes because we do not believe God it is not because of a lack of devotion. Oh, to believe God today!" (McGee J Vernon. Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee, Volume 4. Thomas Nelson, Inc, 1981. pages 698-699)
Why should a believer in Jesus Christ be beating themselves up with self-condemnation when there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ? So you have failed! The Bible tells us all have sinned, and that includes me and you. Our call as failures and sinners is to humble ourselves, repent of our sin, and do what pleases God. Feelings of disappointment and discouragement are indications our expectations have not been met, our will has not been done, that we have put our trust in ourselves or something that is not God. As long as we rely upon ourselves and hold our belief we are able to do what only God can do, the cycle of disappointment will be perpetual. Believing our old man has died with Christ and we have been raised to new life in Jesus Who lives forever, the shield of faith extinguishes the fiery darts Satan or people throw at us. When we see ourselves in Christ because it is Gospel truth, through God's eyes it changes the way we see everything.