Who Was it that Rebelled? (Heb. 3:16-17)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 01-21-03

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Who was it that rebelled?

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                             Reference:  Hebrews 3:16-17

 

            1.  Message of the verse:  “For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?  Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?”  (NKJV)  “And who were these people who rebelled against God, even though they heard His voice?  Weren’t they the ones Moses led out of Egypt?  And who made God angry for forty years?  Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?”  (NLT)

            In the book of Numbers, chapter fourteen, the story of what the writer of Hebrews is speaking of is found.  I have a couple of verses to help explain this sad story:  “Then the LORD said: "I have pardoned, according to your word;  "but truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD--  ‘because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice,  ‘they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.”  These verses summarize the story of these people and their sin and how God dwelt with them.

 

            2.    Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The Lord has taught me much concerning these passages in Hebrews as far as what it means not to enter His rest and how it applied to those who came out of Egypt and also how it applies to my life.  I believe the key is to have faith that God will do what he says He will do because of the wonderful miracle that He did for me when He saved me from my sin.  If He did this for me when I was His enemy, they He will do wonderful things for me now that I am His child, things that He has described in His Word.  He will never leave me nor forsake me.

 

The Word of God brought refreshment to my life today as I read it.  It also made me sad to read how God had to deal with the children of Israel who He brought out of Egypt.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To trust the Lord to care for me in all that I do today.  Trust Him to give me strength as I serve Him at GBC today.  Trust Him with IBS that He will bring glory to God through the effects that this problem has on me.

 

Memory verse for the week:  Romans 12:5 (NIV)

…so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.