Prayer: Father, Your words are instructive and wise. Help me to listen to Your instruction and abide by it. Amen.
Reading: Numbers 32 key: vs. 23-24
23 “But if you don’t do this, behold, you sin against Adonai! Be assured! Your sin will find you out! 24 Build for yourselves cities for your children and pens for your flocks. Then do what has come out of your mouth.”
Attention: Have you ever been pulled over for speeding? Speed zone traps are common where I live. Local residents are in the know about where the police like to set up shop. However, I have been the victim of not knowing where the local police set their traps. I’m reminded of a ticket years ago returning from a conference. We decided to take a more coastal route home and as I rounded a bend which entered a town the speed dropped to 25. No notice or warning, just red lights immediately flashing. It was obviously a revenue generator.
The few times that I have been pulled over by a police officer, only once have I not received a ticket. Of course, there have been times I deserved a ticket, but the police were not present. Yet I had a mindset that the times I had been caught, I didn’t deserve a ticket, and where were the police when I see someone driving way over the speed limit, swerving in and out of traffic or misusing the HOV lane.
Have your ever heard the words, “Your sins will find you out?” They appear in today’s scripture reading as a warning to the sons of Reuben and Gad who decided to settle outside of the promised land. It baffles me that someone who has been given a promise by God, would be satisfied to stop short of claiming the promise. They made a deal with Moses, to accompany the armies of Joshua into the promised land even though they were settling outside. The warning from Moses, was to keep their word about helping conquer the land before returning to the outer land they wanted to settle in, or the sin of not keeping their word would “find you out!”
The warning falls inline with the other chapters we have journaled about keeping your vows to God and others. They had made a vow with Moses in the presence of Adonai, to help conquer the land. It is confusing to me why a people would want to settle for less than Adonai’s blessing and provision. For less than what God had promised them. Are we guilty like them, of settling for less.
Their attitudes remind me of the parable of the New Wine found in three of the gospels but only Luke adds a sentence at the conclusion of his recording of the parable. It reads, “No man who drinks old wine wants new, because he says, ‘The old is fine'” (5:39).
Are we guilty of settling for less than the best? Are we “doing” what we vow to do with our mouth?
Action: I choose to accept and receive Adonai’s promised best. I choose to keep my vows.
Yield: I choose to yield to Adonai’s plan and promise.
Engage: I choose to engage with the Holy Spirit in receiving God’s promised best.
Relationship: I choose wholehearted relationship with Adonai.
Prayer: Father, why do we settle for less, when You have promised the best? May I not be guilty of the attitude which leads me to settling for less. Amen.
Memory Verse: Luke 5: 38-39
38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 No man who drinks old wine wants new, because he says, ‘The old is fine.’”
Music Video: Khaya—Never Settle For Less https://youtu.be/9HDjkoWUNxg
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”