Deserving God's Judgement (Intercession) (Num. 14:11-19)

1/1/2009 10:23 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time           Focus:  Deserving God’s judgment (intercession)

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Numbers 14:11-19

            Message of the verses:  “11 ¶ The LORD said to Moses, "How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst?  12 “I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they."

13 But Moses said to the LORD, "Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from their midst, 14  and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, for You, O LORD, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.

15  "Now if You slay this people as one man, then the nations who have heard of Your fame will say, 16  ‘Because the LORD could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

17  "But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared,

18  ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.’  19  "Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.’”

            Today’s SD on the first day of 2009 is about the fifth sin that Israel committed at Kadesh Barnea, “Deserving God’s judgment,” and the first sub-point under this section is “intercession,” for Moses did intercede for the children of Israel after their sin, and again God offers to make a great nation out of Moses and destroy the children of Israel.  This is the second time that this occurred, as it also happened at Mt. Sinai.  Moses was a great leader and Dr. Wiersbe says that, “It’s the mark of  great and godly leaders that they think only of the good of their people and not their own personal gain.”  Moses surely did this here, for he was not looking out for himself otherwise he would have told the Lord to go ahead and destroy Israel and begin a new nation with him.  I’m sure that there would have been many other leaders who would have gone ahead and justified in their heart that these people truly did need to be destroyed and since God wants to make a great nation out of me, why not go ahead and do it.

            I have always marveled at these two times when Moses intercedes on behalf of the nation of Israel, marveled at the things that he says to the Lord in order to save the nation of Israel from destruction from the Lord.  Now I realize that the Lord was first of all angry at Israel and who could blame Him for being angry at them after all of the miracles that he did in their presence and for them that they turn their back on the Lord and show their selfishness by disobeying the Lord.  God said in Genesis that He was making man in His own image, and one of the things that man received in this image was anger and although man’s anger is mostly controlled by the old nature God’s anger is always just, for it is out of His character to have anger which is not justifiable. 

            As I have searched the internet and other places that I have to look up what others say about this passage I did not find what it was that I was searching for.  It seems to me that although the Lord was justifiably angry at Israel that He was also giving Moses and opportunity to intercede for Israel, for since the Lord knows all things He knew how Moses would react in this situation.  Moses had a great, great love for Israel, and that shows in this section as he intercedes for them.  Moses was a great student of who God was and that is why he was so quick to respond in the ways that he did to the Lord, for Moses knew the character of God, He knew that God had promised to take this nation into the Promised Land, he knew that God was a gracious and loving God who forgave sins, Moses knew that God’s glory would be tarnished if He destroyed Israel and made a new nation out of Moses, he knew that their were promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that would have been broken if God did not take Israel into the Promised Land.  Moses also knew that the Lord had forgiven Israel on many different occasions during their wilderness walk.  Moses knew his God!

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think that this section of Scripture brings out a point that would be a wonderful goal of mine for this year and that is to know the Lord better in 2009.  I am reading a book by Chip Ingram “God:  As He Longs for You to See Him,” and in this book Chip describes seven of God’s attributes, and knowing the attributes of God is knowing the character of God and by knowing these two qualities of God I can begin to know Him better, and by knowing Him better I can serve Him better and bring honor and glory to Him in a better, and I can also worship Him better too.

            I take from this passage that Moses knew his God and therefore when this situation of sin arose and God said what He said to Moses, Moses knew God so well that he knew how to react to what God has said.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. To know God better in 2009.
2. To continue to learn contentment.
3. To trust the Lord to lead me through 2009, a day at a time.
4. To believe that the Lord will return soon to take His bride with Him to heaven.

Memory verses for the week:                                              Romans 6:14-18

14.    For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

15.    What then?  Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?  May it never be!

16.    Do you no know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

17.    But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,

18.    and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

1/1/2009 11:44 AM