Our God Does Not Fail!

I wanted to start today’s blog with an explanation and word of encouragement. First the explanation: several people have asked why I did not post last week and Scotty the week before. We try to post on a regular schedule Monday (Pastor Pete), Wednesday (Scotty), and Friday (Tanner). However, due to vacations, sickness, and personal issues, we may not always be able to post. Scotty was gone on vacation the week before last, and last Monday I took the day off to be with my son for his eye surgery. I know you all understand things like this, I just wanted to be clear with the explanation. If we do not post, chances are something major came up or we are out of the office. To be honest, it was great that so many of you said you missed our postings. That was encouraging to us!! Thank you!!
Now to encourage you: KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK! If you are still reading along with us then you are doing great! We have had a lot of names again here the last few days and it can become discouraging and frustrating when you are reading all these names. However, each name is important, and it is in the Bible for a reason. You don’t have to understand all of the family trees, but read the names and do your best to pronounce them. You will be surprised at the different dots you will be able to connect later on just because you took the time to read through the names. As I have said before, don’t try to understand everything, just read it, and God will reveal what He wants you to understand. Keep up the great work, stick with it, we will be halfway before you know it.
I love how today’s reading ends: Not one of ALL the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled. Our God does not fail! And He does not break promises! That is great to remember as we walk through life. We can always count on God. His good promises to you and I will NOT fail! Every one of them will be fulfilled. Whatever is going on in your life, no matter how good or bad things are right now, that verse should bring joy to your heart. You can count on God! Don’t forget that as you start this new week.

Gods Plan

I think a lot of us today are in the same situation that Joshua is in. Ok so maybe we don’t have 5 kings coming together to try and destroy us, but I would be willing to bet that in this time that our nation is in there seems to be something like 5 things all blowing up and attacking us right now. Whether it be risk of losing our jobs, maybe our house is being foreclosed on, maybe you have a spouse that decided to up and leave right in the middle of all of this trouble, or maybe a loved one that has just been put in the hospital. Whatever it is, sometimes the pressure of whatever it is can seem like the whole world is coming against you, or everything is blowing up on you. I love Joshua’s response. You notice as you go along during the reading that Joshua never even considered giving up, and how he basically turned to face whatever giant that was coming his way head on, and then God would say, “do not fear, for I will hand them over to you”. Maybe we should take not of this. Whenever trouble comes our way and the devil is throwing whatever he can at us, I don’t think God wants us to just roll over and expect him to handle it. Whatever it is we have to turn and face it for what it is and rely on God to see us through it. No matter what the situation is, nothing is too big for God to handle. And you can see the results of what happens when we turn and face it. With God on our side there is no battle to big, no army too great, and surely no devil in hell strong enough to stand against God or his children, especially when there is a plan and a purpose for God’s children.

Proof

God honors Joshua in front of everyone so that they know without a shadow of a doubt that God is with him, just like God was with Moses.
God does things in an uncommon way.. always has, always will. When God uses ordinary people, he does extraordinary things.
The nation of Israel crosses over onto dry ground during the flood season of the river Jordan, then the march is on and God gives them the tools to conquer Jericho.
Some things to notice: God was specific in what He told them to do, God did what he said he would do, and it was an amazing thing to be a part of and see.
Can you imagine waking up every morning to the rams horns being blown, the marching of footsteps and then on the 7th day to hear all the people, anywhere from 1-2 million people scholars estimate, shout at once.. and the walls of Jericho fall? And the city is destroyed.
Remember what Joshua says about the man who rebuilds Jericho… because you will read about it again some day as you continue on in your studies of the Bible.

Look for God to do extraordinary things in unordinary ways.

Walls To The Sky

Have you ever been there facing a wall in life that was so large it seemed as if it touched the sky? It may have been a financial wall, or a medical wall, or a family wall. Perhaps it was a wall at work or just a personal wall that you could not climb over. As the nation of Israel prepares to enter the promise land they are warned that the cities and armies will be large. The cities will have walls up to the sky the writer says. WOW what a challenge for an invading force! But verse 3 of Deuteronomy 9 says it all, “But be assured today…He will destroy them…and you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly.” God is bigger then the walls in our life! He can knock them down, punch through them, or toss us right over them. The walls we perceive as reaching to the sky are but a stepping-stone for the Lord. Don’t be discouraged if the walls of life seem too big, instead be encouraged to call upon the Lord to remove the obstacle. And what does the Lord ask of each of us today? The answer is put well in Deut. 10:12-13. We must do nothing more then fear God, walk in His ways, love Him, and serve Him with all of our hearts and souls, while observing His commands. These commands and decrees are for our own good. If we follow them, if we fear, love, serve and honor God, our lives will be blessed and we will be a blessing to others. God asks you and I today to do these things. He will knock down the walls. When we do our part He does His. Don’t get the two roles mixed up as we often do.

Caleb is the Man!!!

We have all heard this story before. The Isrealites have finally made it to the promise land, and Moses sends out a group to go spy and check out the land. They return saying the “land is great, and plentiful,” and they even bring back some fruit, which if you remember from the VBS pictures, were grapes as big as some of our heads! We all probably remember what happens next, the men sent out as spies then start proclaiming, “we can’t go in, the men are like giants, and we are like ants in there eyes, the cities are way too big and strong!” But today I want to look at the only one of the spies that didn’t disobey, and didn’t question God sending them into this land, Caleb. Caleb was a part of the group to go in, he saw the land and how plentiful it was, and he brought back some of the fruit with the rest of them. He also saw the so-called “giants” and the big cities, but he is attitude was completely different then the others that went also. When they are saying, “no we can’t go in there,” he was saying “lets go and take it.” I don’t know what it is but something about these guys not believing is going to come back and bite them in the butt here sooner or later. And actually it happens here, did you catch when God said that because they are an evil generation that they will not set foot again in the promise land? Except for Caleb of course, because he believed in what God had promised them, and no matter what the people looked like he was going to remain faithful to what God had promised them. It’s just sort of a little reminder, that God always has a plan and a purpose, even when it seems like what he has called us to do is impossible. Let it also remind us that if we continue to doubt what God can do in our lives, even though he has more then proven himself faithful, we might miss out on the big opportunity that God has called us to.

I Will Do To You What I Did To Them!

Today you read about a challenge to the east coast to follow through to the west coast even though they have already received God’s blessing. "Don’t stop with your blessing east coast, follow through until the west coast get theirs, and you will be blessed some more, but if you don’t….. “your sin will find you”" Moses says.
East Coast has no problem with saying, “we will stick with you until the end”.

Moses also warns them all don’t be like your dad’s and miss out on God’s blessing in receiving the promise land or God will send you back out into the sand to die like they did….. Man, after having 40 years of sand in their pants these guys have no problem with moving forward.

Again, this is old testament and God is just as strict now as He was then except Jesus has paid our price. So, that brings to question our sin and God’s limit! At what point does He say, “ That’s it! You are going to stay in the desert until you die! I will still provide for you, I will still care for you, but you now lose out on the promise I have for you, I will pass it on to your descendants instead”. I pray that we never find that point, that we are not a part of a generation that gets stuck in the sand, but that we would be a generation of God’s people that will move forward into what He has in store for us.
Stay in His Word, act on His promises, and I pray you get out of the sand of where He doesn’t want you and you get into the land of where our God does want you to be.

Work

Do you remember the last time you spent and entire day and did no work? In today’s reading we see several times where God says to his people on these certain days you are to do no work. He makes a point to tell his people that they need times of rest. I must admit this one is very hard for me. Even on my days off I work around the house. Or I catch up on school work. Whatever it is, I can always seem to find something else that needs to be done. I am sure your life is much like mine, much work, little rest. I want to challenge you to find a day in the next week to spend at least half a day, but preferably a whole day, doing no work. Cook your meals in advance, leave the clothes for another day ladies, find a day and do no work. Men don’t go clean the shop, or fix that leak, or change the oil in the car. Find a day to do no work. It will be hard but it will be worth it. God instructs us to have these times for a reason. Days of no work are days where we can focus on God 100%. Spend that day with those you love and with the LORD OF LORDS and KING OF KINGS! Read you Bible, pray, talk to those you love, take a nap, sit out in God’s creation and just marvel at all he has done. Try and find the time to “fast” from all work. Don’t misunderstand me, I did not say “do nothing”, I said “do no work.” Take a few hours or a whole day if you can to focus on God, yourself, and those you love. We must find time in our lives to do no work if we are to ever find the full and abundant life Christ has for us.

Faith or Fear?

It’s amazing. Even after everything that God has done for his people, they are STILL complaining. But I find it still amazing that we do the same thing as Christians in today’s world. Here we have the Isrealites, Moses bringing them out of Egypt, God wiping out the huge army chasing them with the parting of the Red Sea. God gave them a cloud to follow during the day, and a fire out of nowhere to guide them at night, God brought them the manna, and the list goes on and on. Yet when they can’t find a little water, “o how we should have stayed slaves in Egypt, rather being lead out here to die!!! O the horror!!” (this is totally paraphrased btw). They still insist on going back to their old way of life. What about us as Christians today? How many times have we had God deliver us from something huge? Something we knew their was no way on earth that could have happened unless it was a devine intervention. We see God at work so many times in our life, but then when something happens usually our first reaction is something of the same, “maybe I should go back to this……, or you know that I know is wrong, but at least it worked out……”. I can’t count the number of times I have experienced this in my life. But the one thing I always know, is that God is there with me. Just like with the Isrealites, he didn’t get mad and smite them with a lightning bolt for doubting, Ya there are times in the bible when he allowed for punishment, but he never wiped out his entire people. He provided. God always provides for his children, but I have found through personal experience, he usually wants to wait to see what our first reaction is, faith or fear? So what has your first reaction been, Faith or Fear?

Tanner

Sand Trap

Have you ever played golf and get caught in a sand trap? If you get in a sand trap that could spell trouble especially if you are just a weekend warrior golf player and do not practice.
If you don’t want to read a lot today then stop here. This is the summary, be careful as you listen to God and do the things He tells you the first time, and you can experience His mercy and grace, but you might not get a second chance at accepting that gift or doing that thing for God again if you don’t listen the first time.
He loves you, He will forgive you, He will accept you, but He still will allow you to learn the lesson or experience the consequence of your actions.
The long version:
The sad thing is that the Israelites had spent time in the desert (a sand trap if you will), and this was their chance to hit a great shot and they duffed it. They duffed it so badly they had to spend another 40 years in that sand trap.
Don’t be too quick to judge them though. Yes they had seen God’s glory, yes they were the ones who had seen God part the Red Sea and crush Pharaoh’s army, yes they had seen the pillar of fire by night and pillar of clouds by day, and despite seeing the mighty hand of God , they were still afraid to take a hold of the promise God had given them. Like sheep we have all gone astray. Interesting quote.
We pick up with them grumbling against Moses and Aaron and we see Moses’ compassion at work. He intercedes on the behalf of the people, God forgives them, but they still have to suffer the consequences of grumbling about their circumstance. Still, they had a problem with obey! They disobeyed God when they did not receive His blessing on them. Can you imagine not taking hold of a blessing? Why did they get so afraid? He forgave them though and punished them at the same time. He forgave but said there are still consequences for your disobedience, “You will die in the desert.”
Then they wanted to make up for not obeying God by going into the promise land after He told them they could no longer have it anymore, and what happened, they tried anyway and died by the hands of the Amalekites and Canaanites.
There is a lot here to soak in, God giving, people refusing His gift, God forgiving, and yet there is still some consequence to their actions, them wanting to repent by trying to do something God wanted to them to do in the first place, but only after He took it away from them and He had told them, “do not go you will die in the desert now”. So out of their zeal and inability to hear what God was telling them, a whole bunch of them get killed in the effort to go where God told them they could not go now.
So what does all this mean to us? How do we observe what happened and bring it back home?
1. God wants to give us gifts that are great gifts and some of these gifts require faith in accepting, but sometimes we might be able to have seen God’s hand at work in our life before He gives us that special gift to help us act out in faith.
2. God is forgiving! He also allows us to go through consequences of our actions even though we have received the forgiveness.
3. When we try to make up for our mistakes to God and maybe take a hold of something He intended to bless us with, He then takes it away from us because we didn’t take it the first time. Maybe we should listen to Him the first time before we do that.
4. Moses had compassion on the people, he prayed for them to be forgiven, he interceded on their behalf. Do we do that for others who are around us?
5. I see at this time the common thing was to doubt what God was giving; the uncommon thing was to believe that God could help them overcome the obstacles that were before them like Caleb & Joshua.

Why Wait????

Numbers 9:8 (NIV) Moses answered them, “Wait until I find out what the LORD commands concerning you.” Like most of you I make hundreds of decisions each day. We are faced with small decisions and large decisions. Some decisions affect only our lives and others affect many lives. Some decisions seem important and others do not. The truth however is every decision is important. The question is how do we respond when we are faced with one. The decision Moses faced was one that some common sense could have solved. As I read the verses just previous to this one I thought to myself, “That’s easy. They should still be able to celebrate the Passover.” Which by the way is what God ends up telling Moses. But it really impressed me that Moses did not rely on common sense. He did not rely on what he thought. Instead he relied on God. “Wait until I find out what the LORD commands”, he says. I was reminded today that as I make decisions I should be quick to go to God even if it might mean waiting for a short or long period of time. When we make decisions ourselves, based on common sense, experience, or the wisdom we have gained from life, we often times get it right. However you will still make many bad and wrong decisions. When you go to God and when you wait on God for the answer, you are guaranteed to get it right the first time every time.