Today's Favorite Verse: Numbers 14:22-23, 40

Today's Favorite Verse: Numbers 14:22-23, 40
"Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised: for we have sinned."

I knew the children of Israel whined and complained and didn't do as the Lord asked, but I hadn't realized it had been ten times.  Now the Lord has had enough. From each of the twelve tribes a man had been sent to search the land of Canaan. Upon return only two gave a good report, Caleb of the house of Judah, and Joshua of the house of Ephraim. They saw how good the land was and said not to fear possessing it, because the Lord was with us.

For this the people sought to stone them. They wanted to believe the bad reports, that never considered the Lord on their side. Then the people murmured against Moses and Aaron and planned to name a captain to led them back to Egypt.

The glory of the Lord appears in the tabernacle before all the children of Israel. He tells them how displeased he is and basically this generation will not inherit the land. After they die off their children will inherit the land. Caleb and Jacob alone will be able to enter into the land. The other men that brought an evil report died by plague.

What really, really got me was after all the children of Israel had witnessed, miracles, the glory of God, the almighty power of parting the red sea, it wasn't enough for them to believe he could do anything. They still doubted and could not trust him. Even after being told they will never inherit the land, what do they do? The next morning they decide to go to the place the Lord promised them. Now that he took it away from them, now they wanted him to let them have it. They are sorely tempting the Lord. They truly are child like in their behavior. I cannot blame the Lord for making them wander 40 years in the wilderness and never letting them enter into his rest.

So, I sat and pondered on how that relates to me, and my day. I found that it does. How I want to learn lessons from what happened to the children of Israel, and not be like the ones that displeased the Lord. I want to be a Caleb or a Jacob and only believe that with God all things are possible. I know the more I believe the stronger is my belief. Recently, I have been impressed to pray and thank my Heavenly Father for the gift of faith he has given me. I am grateful for the veil of forgetfulness over my eyes. That I could live here on this earth by faith. I see it as a beautiful thing, the gift of faith to believe in Christ and my Heavenly Father's plan. Every time I say this prayer of thanks, expressing my gratitude for faith, my faith has been increased. I see now that the time to have faith and make it grow is when I express my gratitude before Him. Then he can make weak things strong, and someday when all I have is my faith to rely on, it will stand whatever weight might be placed upon it.


Day 706