Sometimes we want to know more information than we are given. We want to know, just to be sure. We say things like the children of Israel said, "Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to." That seems logical, so we do things like that and then we see OBSTACLES and get scared, nervous, discouraged, and even rebellious. We feel like grumbling in our tents and decide that God doesn't care about us. Then, we say, "What should we do? The obstacles have made us lose heart, and there are giants in the land, we will not be safe."
Then God says, "Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. I, the Lord God, who is GOING BEFORE you, will fight for you as I did that other time, (the times no one else knows about but you do, because God was powerful for you personally in that particular moment) right before your very eyes. And in the desert, the Lord God carried you, as a father carries his son, everywhere you went in that desert place until you reached this place."
Even then and in spite of this, we don't automatically trust God who is also LORD of our lives. This God who goes ahead of us on our journey, in a visible sign of fire by night, and in a pillar of cloud by day. He searches out places for us to camp and to show us the way we should go.
I get so mad at the Children of Israel for their forgetfulness and unbelief, and then, I find myself doing the exact same thing. I fear, I doubt, I wonder if maybe I am possibly on the wrong track, and I am tempted to help God by coming up with my own ideas or routes.
How can we do this? God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. I think there are pillars of clouds by day and fire by night if we would only look. It's up to us to trust HIM and let HIM show us in HIS own way, in HIS own time. No questions. No worries. AND for sure, no grumbling!
*based loosely from Deuteronomy chapter 1
Then God says, "Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. I, the Lord God, who is GOING BEFORE you, will fight for you as I did that other time, (the times no one else knows about but you do, because God was powerful for you personally in that particular moment) right before your very eyes. And in the desert, the Lord God carried you, as a father carries his son, everywhere you went in that desert place until you reached this place."
Even then and in spite of this, we don't automatically trust God who is also LORD of our lives. This God who goes ahead of us on our journey, in a visible sign of fire by night, and in a pillar of cloud by day. He searches out places for us to camp and to show us the way we should go.
I get so mad at the Children of Israel for their forgetfulness and unbelief, and then, I find myself doing the exact same thing. I fear, I doubt, I wonder if maybe I am possibly on the wrong track, and I am tempted to help God by coming up with my own ideas or routes.
How can we do this? God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. I think there are pillars of clouds by day and fire by night if we would only look. It's up to us to trust HIM and let HIM show us in HIS own way, in HIS own time. No questions. No worries. AND for sure, no grumbling!
*based loosely from Deuteronomy chapter 1
Thank you, Shilah! I love this and it helped me a great deal this morning. Reminds me of studying the book of Joshua in the old days at Maranatha.
ReplyDelete