WILDERNESS WANDERINGS

Time with Jesus - Saturday, 05 May 2012

Hi all,

Here we all are in the middle of an international economic crisis. Today’s Scriptures are mainly about the pillar of fire by night and cloud by day. So I started to wonder what that would cost if we wanted to do something similar. As a result, today we have a tongue in cheek estimate of costs! I’m glad God can afford it!

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Time with Jesus – Saturday, 05 May 2012
INTRODUCTION	DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	WILDERNESS WANDERINGS
The Children of Israel refused to go into the promised land. They had sent out 12 men to spy out the land. They came back with a wonderful report along with a negative one. It was a wonderful land, “flowing with milk and honey”. But the inhabitants were like giants. Only two of these spies believed they should go in and take the land. Their names were Joshua and Caleb. A careful examination of Scripture reveals that the idea of sending men to “spy out the land” was not from God. It was their own idea. Moses went along with the idea, so the venture was undertaken. Moses describes the tragic details in Deuteronomy. He stated, 2 Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-Barnea, going by way of Mount Seir. Deuteronomy 1:2 NLT It’s astonishing how often a good idea is not a God idea. We like to take matters into our own hands and “do it my way”. It doesn’t work. God had told them to go in and take the land. They sent in spies instead. Then, when they listened to the spies’ report, they were terrified and wouldn’t go in. Moses’ tale in Deuteronomy would read like a comic opera if it wasn’t both real and tragic. In the end God told them that because they hadn’t believed and obeyed Him, not one of that generation would go in and take the land. Only Joshua and Caleb went in some forty years later. The ones who did were the children of that lost generation. Unbelief kept them out. They spent forty years wandering round in the wilderness.  Now one of the greatest miracles of the old Testament took place. God preserved the nation for those forty years. That amazes me! They had been “written off” by God. But although He punished them and did not let them enter the Promised Land, He took care of them for all those years of wandering. Would you do that? Not me! Today’s meditation looks at the fact that God did this for His people. It then goes on to speculate about the cost of these wanderings. I’ve estimated that the cost in today’s money would be in the region of one trillion Rand over those forty years. Fortunately, God does not have money problems. We do. Where could we raise a trillion Rand to support a group of about two million people wandering round the desert? Try asking your bank for that amount of money. The bank would ask us for collateral. What would we provide? I’m reminded of the story of the man who went to see his bank manager and told him that Jesus Christ had paid all his debts on Mt Calvary. So he didn’t have to repay the loan. The bank manager told him that Jesus may have paid his debt to humanity. But there was still the matter of his outstanding debt with the bank! Jim & Phyllida Strickland	39 The LORD spread a cloud above them as a covering and gave them a great fire to light the darkness. Psalms 105:39 NLT 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. 14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. Psalms 103:13-14 ESV 4 Indeed, He who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. 5 The LORD Himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade. 6 The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. 7 The LORD keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. 8 The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. Psalms 121:4-8 NLT 4 The Lord will wash the filth from beautiful Zion and cleanse Jerusalem of its bloodstains with the hot breath of fiery judgment. 5 Then the LORD will provide shade for Mount Zion and all who assemble there. He will provide a canopy of cloud during the day and smoke and flaming fire at night, covering the glorious land. 6 It will be a shelter from daytime heat and a hiding place from storms and rain. Isaiah 4:4-6 NLT 21 GOD went ahead of them in a Pillar of Cloud during the day to guide them on the way, and at night in a Pillar of Fire to give them light; thus they could travel both day and night. 22 The Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night never left the people. Exodus 13:21-22 MSG 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8 NIrV	The day-times in the desert are very, very hot. Then, shortly after sunset, the heat they’ve quite forgot! They started to feel icy. They shivered from the cold. And just a little tiny flame was worth its weight in gold. The Lord knew all about it. To Him it wasn’t strange, So He provided something that kept the warmth in range. He covered all His people with cloud during the day And used a fiery pillar to keep the cold away. We see that air-conditioning was Jesus Christ’s design If everyone stayed close to it, they’d all be feeling fine. Of course it was a miracle which lasted forty years, Without an interruption for Moses and his peers. Now stop and think about it. About two million folk, Enjoyed this air conditioning and didn’t once go broke! I’m glad it was the Lord Most High Who had to pay the bill. But who could now afford it? The answer’s plainly, “nil!” I’m living in a pleasant house which I must heat and cool. Three Thousand Rand paid monthly we pay out as a rule. That’s only for ten people. Two hundred thousand more! Six hundred million rand per month! Can you afford this score? The Lord God charged them nothing. He did it all for free. They didn’t have the money. The same as you and me. But God can well afford it; For Him, it’s just small change. To us it’s astronomical. But well within His range. About three hundred Billion Rand or thereabout it seems. It’s bigger than the National debt and far beyond our dreams. For God it’s still just chicken feed. He doesn’t bat an eye. If you add on the water bill, I will not even try, To give some sort of estimate. And then there’s cattle food. The sheep and goats they sacrificed. The finest of the brood. The rams and bulls they offered up; the tabernacle’s price! Where did the Jewish people get their financial advice? About a Thousand Billion Rand. Does that sound out of place? No wonder Jewish people control the human race! I wonder what on Wall Street the bankers all would say? The cost of wandering around. “We don’t invest that way!” But God thought it was worth it. He thought it a good deal, A step toward bringing His Son to make salvation real. Jim Strickland – Written 5th May 2012