Israel Rebelling (Deu. 1:19-25)

3/6/2009 8:43 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  Israel rebelling

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Deuteronomy 1:19-25

 

            Message of the verse:  Israel rebelling is the next point in Warren Wiersbe’s outline of this chapter of his book, and “Searching out the land” is the first sub-point in this section and it covers verses 22-25.

            “19 ¶  "Then we set out from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the LORD our God had commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-Barnea. 20  "I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which the LORD our God is about to give us. 21  ‘See, the LORD your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’ 22  "Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may search out the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up and the cities which we shall enter.’ 23  "The thing pleased me and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe. 24  "They turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of Eshcol and spied it out. 25  "Then they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought us back a report and said, ‘It is a good land which the LORD our God is about to give us.”

            In verses 19-21 Moses speaks of Israel’s journey from Horeb to Kadesh-Barnea, which is where Israel was to leave from to go in and conquer the Promised Land, but in verse 22 Moses tells that the people wanted to go into the land and have a look at the land before they would go in and conquer it.  This was their idea and Moses said that the idea pleased him so he went along with it, however the results were not pleasing to him, which will be written about in the next SD. 

            The Lord does allow us at times to do some things that will increase our faith, things like Gideon did, however from what I can understand about this, I do not think that it is in the best interest for spiritual growth to do these types of things.  Gideon did conquer the enemies but his life did not end well and this could have something to do with that.  The children of Israel had to wander around the wilderness for forty years because they did not do the will of God to go into the land and conquer it.  Part of the report that came back from there sending the spies in was that they said that it was a good land, but the Lord had told them that before they wanted to send the spies into the land.  Dr. Wiersbe says on this subject, “Doing God’s express will is the safest course because God never makes a mistake.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I would suppose that all of this has to do with what Sandy and I went through yesterday with her lawyer.  I was shocked at how he treated us seeing that we are his clients and maybe we should have just walked out of his office when he suggested that we do so.  I can say that I am not convinced that I know positively what God’s will is in this situation, but I will be willing to take it to the Lord in prayer.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Take this issue to the Lord in prayer.
2. Trust the Lord to guide my steps today.
3. Learn contentment.
4. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.

 

3/6/2009 9:46 AM