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| The Wilderness of Zin |
Time with Jesus - Sunday, 05 May 2013
Hi all,
Going round and round in circles
for 40 years must be a terribly sad thing to do. Think for a moment about what
happened. About 2 million men, women and children were at Kadesh-barnea. God
had told the people to go in and take the Promised Land. Instead they decided
to send spies to examine the land.
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| Spies and the Produce |
In a way, ±600 000 men were under a death sentence for
disobedience. For them, the wilderness was “death row”. God took good care of
them. He provided food and water. Their shoes didn’t wear out. The scene is a
little like the film we saw several years ago. It was called, “Dead Man Walking”!
That’s exactly what they were. They were under a death sentence from God for
disobedience. There was no Court of Appeal. God was and is the Supreme Court.
His commands get obeyed to the letter! They were in the “Death Row” wilderness and
those men would all die!
Christians today fail to realise
that we serve the same God. Yes, He is a loving God and He did send His Son for
us to die in our place. But He does not overlook disobedience indefinitely. He
is not and will not be used like a “Divine Prostitute” or slot machine. He has
told us very clearly how we should live. If we rebel and repeatedly disobey, we
may end up in a completely different wilderness. One that burns with
unquenchable fire and never ends.
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| Spies tell of Problems |
The Book of Hebrews puts it as
follows: 11 So let us do our best to
enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the
people of Israel did, we will fall. 12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper
than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between
joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. 13
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God.
Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes, and He is the One to whom we are accountable. Hebrews 4:11-13 NLT
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| The God of Love is also The God of Justice |
Our meditation today focuses on
the Wilderness Wanderings
Shalom,
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Sunday, 05 May 2013
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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These devotionals are the intellectual
property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy
and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian
purposes
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY
LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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WILDERNESS
WANDERINGS
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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
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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
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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
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