Prayer: Father, my ears, mind, and eyes are open to Your instruction. Teach me today! Amen.
Reading: Numbers 14 key: vs. 26-27
26 Adonai then said to Moses and Aaron saying, 27 “How long will this wicked community be grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of Bnei-Yisrael grumbling against Me.
Attention: In 1993 a movie was released starring Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau titled, Grumpy Old Men. They were neighbors who had perfected the art of grumbling and complaining about each other. Each man had held something against the other since childhood and they continued the war pulling pranks on each other. Each man was single, and the war reached new levels when an attractive single woman moves in across the street from them.
Saturday Night Live, a television parody show, had a married couple named Doug and Wendy Whiner. They were just as their last name tells us; they were “whiners.” Everything they said was whiney, moaning and groaning about everything and anything. They annoyed everyone around them with their whining.
Have you ever been around someone who whined, complained, or groaned about everything around them? I used to know someone who complained about their health. They were suffering one week with this and another week with that. They always had whatever someone else was experiencing. I did not see them often, but I got to where I would greet them with how great they looked. It helped to divert the conversation away from their constant complaining. Compliments worked.
In today’s reading, even Adonai has had enough of the grumbling and complaining. The people which He favored chose to ignore all the historical provision and protection He had provided them. The grumbling was so bad, even Adonai asks Moses and Aaron, “How long will this wicked community be grumbling against Me?” He even references how the older generation had seen His glory and witnessed His miraculous signs “I performed in Egypt.” Yet, they represented no faith in Adonai to be able to deliver the land He promised into their hands.
Are there times, despite Adonai’s track record, that we grumble and complain about how difficult life is? How we do not have whatever it is we think we need? Did you read the consequence of not believing Adonai would deliver the land to them? Did you notice the percentage of people who grumbled and complained against Adonai? Of the twelve spies, only two returned with a “Yes, we must go and take the land” attitude. We can do this with Adonai’s help. We are told that the other ten had the audacity to be a cancer to the community by “spreading the bad report about the land” (vs. 36-37.)
Adonai did not respond with the compassion which the church today says encapsulates the character of God. The text says, “these men, spreading the bad report about the land, died of the plague in Adonai’s presence.” Has Adonai changed and no longer punishes sin? If you have embraced the current narrative about Adonai only being compassionate and loving, I encourage you to read Hebrews 12: 1-11. It says directly, “Adonai disciplines the one He loves and punishes every son He accepts.” Discipline and punishment show who is His and not His. Have you never been punished by Adonai? If not, I encourage you to readdress whether you are His according to this scripture.
You might also consider, does Adonai still discipline a nation in corporate sin? Has Adonai changed His mind about sin and unfaithfulness? Please read Hebrews 13:8 to confirm who God (Adonai) is.
Action: I choose to believe that Adonai still disciplines His own.
Yield: I give myself over to Adonai’s direction for me.
Engage: I engage with the Holy Spirit in transforming my life, mind, and heart.
Relationship: I choose to be in full undiminished relationship with Adonai.
Prayer: Father, I desire to be filled with Your Spirit and to be a beacon of faithfulness to You. Amen.
Memory Verse: Hebrews 13:8
8 Yeshua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Music Video: Steve Green—Find Us Faithful https://youtu.be/eERKnxzNzwg
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”