LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, May 16, 2019

Moses had one more thing to do before he died and turn over the leadership of Israel to Joshua. In direct obedience to the command of God, Moses was to send an army to destroy the Midianite people who had attempted to subvert the nation through sexual immorality and idol worship. Under the guidance of Balaam, the Midianites sent their women to seduce the men of Israel and lead them to their places of worship of Baal. God punished the men of Israel, some 24,000 of them, with death, and the nation was purified. But God’s judgment of sin was not done.

Numbers 31:1-6  The LORD said to Moses, “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.” So Moses said to the people, “Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites and to carry out the LORD’S vengeance on them. Send into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel.” So twelve thousand men armed for battle, a thousand from each tribe, were supplied from the clans of Israel. Moses sent them into battle, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles from the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling.

Moses chose an army of twelve thousand men, one thousand from each tribe, and under God’s authority they wiped out the Midianite army. When the war was over, they had destroyed every Midianite male and every female old enough to engage in sexual activity. Only the young girls were saved and made slaves of the Israelites. The plunder they took amounted to 675,000 sheep, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 donkeys, and 32,000 female slaves. These figures give an indication of the size of the Midianite nation, and yet 12,000 Israelite soldiers defeated them easily without losing one soldier’s life. Not one! God was their Commander-in-Chief and their Protector.

There are two eternal principles of God’s justice to learn from this story. First, God’s justice against sin begins in the lives of the people who have been called to be holy and have been given an inheritance with the saints in glory. We know from experience that this is true. You and I have experienced the discipline of God for sins we have committed. Hebrews 12:5-7 reminds us that a loving Father will always correct His children.

And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?”

Second, God will also punish the source of the sin and destroy it. His justice against sin will be complete and it will be utterly destroyed. Just as He destroyed the Midianites for being the source of seduction for the Israelites, so He will also one day destroy the source of seduction into sin for all of us who are now His chosen people.  Even though for now it appears that evil is flourishing, there is a day coming when the price for sin will be paid, and that price is death. (Read Psalms 7, 9, & 11)

The good news is that through Jesus Christ we are delivered from the power of seduction today. We do not have to wait until the Day of Judgment to be free from the seduction of sin. The indwelling Presence of Jesus Christ in our lives has already accomplished that victory for us. The influence of the world is still powerful, but “greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) “We have been set free from the power of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2) Through the love of Jesus Christ we have “been made more than conquerors.” (Romans 8:37)

In preparation for their entrance into the Promised Land, the Israelites were told to destroy all sin and sinful people so that the land of promise would be a holy place in which to dwell. You and I are living today in the Promised Land of God’s presence through Jesus Christ, and all the power of sin has been destroyed by His death on the cross. Let’s live in that victory every moment of every day by putting sin to death.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

I was taught an incredible lesson in humble leadership by my dad when I was 15 years old. He modeled the kind of humility it takes to turn over the responsibility for an important task to someone less experienced. I was 15 years old, and we were on our way to Colorado for a family vacation in conjunction with the national conference for the denomination in which my dad was a pastor. We were going to be camping, so there was a big travel trailer hooked up behind the car. We had made good progress from St. Paul into Nebraska when dad looked in the rearview mirror and said, “John, do you want to drive?”

I only had my learner’s permit, but I was ready, except for that big camper behind us. I had driven the car plenty of times, but now there was an added difficulty with which I had no experience. Dad stopped the car, got out, and gave me the keys. WOW! He trusted me with the car and the camper and the lives of the family. He knew that the only way to become qualified for a task was to be allowed to do the task and gain experience. He was still the qualified driver. He was not unable to perform the task of driving, yet he humbly surrendered his rights for the sake of training the next generation of drivers. He knew that I would need those skills when I got out on my own in the future. Thanks, Dad!

Numbers 27:12-17  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go up this mountain in the Abarim range and see the land I have given the Israelites. After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honor me as holy before their eyes.” (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.) Moses said to the LORD, “May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD’S people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

Moses knew his leadership of the nation was coming to an end. God sent him up to the top of a mountain to get a view of the Promised Land, a land that he would never be allowed to enter because of his sin. But before he goes, Moses asks God to reveal to him who the next leader of the Israelites would be. I think if I were in that situation, the first thought I my mind would have been to ask God to forgive me and remove the consequence of my sin so that I could go into the land. Maybe I would make excuses for why the sin wasn’t really all that bad and the consequence was unfair. It would certainly be a priority to try to maintain some control and to “stay in the driver’s seat.”

But not Moses. He was a humble man, as God had described him in Numbers 12:3 – Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth. His immediate attitude was one of humble submission to the plan of God and of concern for the ongoing leadership of the people. That speaks volumes about the attitude of his heart.

Then God takes it one step further. God says to Moses, “Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him.”  It’s one thing to be willing to step aside for someone else, but it is something much more humbling to be asked to take part in the training of that new person.

Think of the applications of this lesson to our lives today. If you are a parent your whole experience in raising your children is just like this. We watch as they drop dishes on the floor trying to carry them; leave the blankets crooked on a bed they were trying to make; leave tools laying around the garage after using them (I still do this); miss whole sections of lawn as they use the mower for the first time; and on and on goes the list. We seem to be able to humbly accept our responsibility to develop leaders in our families, so what has happened in our jobs and in our churches? Why do we have so many people greedily hanging on to positions of leadership when there is a whole generation of new leaders just waiting to use their skills and dreams to take us to new places of promise?

Right now I am on a four-month sabbatical. God is using this time to refresh my spirit for ongoing ministry. He is also using this time to further the training of those who will take over when I am gone as they use their leadership training to develop their skills. I am so thankful that God has helped to humble me so that I can be a part of that transition and not a control freak that stops the growth.

How about you? In your job, or in your church, are you a humble and willing participant in developing the next wave of leaders, even if that means not accomplishing a personal goal? Is our purpose self-fulfilling or Kingdom fulfilling? Let’s be the facilitators of growth by letting someone else drive for a while.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Not many people wear the W.W.J.D. bracelets any more. This bracelet was designed to be worn as a reminder to ask the question “What would Jesus do?” when we were faced with a decision or confronted with a problem. I hope we have not let the fading of a fad change the foundation of our faith. God still requires us to take action that models His attributes in every aspect of our lives.

The Israelites are being seduced by the Moabites in an attempt by Balaam to become wealthy and powerful. It was Balaam who devised the plan to overthrow the Israelites by turning them away from the Lord rather than by military force. The Moabites were very afraid of the power of God’s people. They knew they did not have the military strength to defeat them, so they weakened them by immorality and idolatry, taking away their source of strength from the Lord.

Numbers 25:10-13 The LORD said to Moses, “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in my zeal I did not put an end to them. Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”

The seduction of the people was so blinding that one man named Zimri actually brought a Midianite woman back to his family to share right in front of Moses and the Elders. The leadership wept over the sin of the people. The punishment for their sins was already underway. The tribal leaders had already begun the killing of all the men who had been seduced into worshiping false gods. Yet this man was so intent on getting what he could for immediate pleasure that he ignored the consequences of his choices. What severe blindness comes over us when we choose to please self rather than God. What brazen disregard we have for the holiness of God.

Phinehas, the son of the high priest, took action. He went into the tent where the man and the woman were involved in fornication, and he killed them both with one thrust of the spear. God commends him for his action, stating clearly that Phinehas acted exactly as God would have acted. Can there be any greater commendation on a life than that? Is that not to be our ongoing response to sin around us today?

Now be careful, I am not advocating killing sinners, unless we are willing to start with self. What I am suggesting is that we take a stand against sin when God clearly does.

Over the years I have been disheartened by the stories of major denominations in our country that are being split over social issues like abortion, gay rights, and equality. They are debating what the Bible really says about these issues. I weep that the spiritual blindness caused by the desire for personal pleasure is being justified with the terms unity and tolerance. What is there to debate about sin? God is holy, and he rejects all that is not. We must be bold and courageous to stand against all such attempts to seduce the people of the world into the worship of false gods that satisfy personal passions.

My friends, take to heart God’s commendation of Phinehas. Make it your personal goal to do what God would do. Stand against sin. Stand for righteousness. Choose wisely, for one choice to please self could blind you for life.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, May 13, 2019

The morning news is not always encouraging. In fact, very rarely is there a story on the national media outlets that makes me think, “This is going to be a great day.” Upon reflection, I’ve discovered that the news stories are not the problem. My response is the problem. It’s my choice whether to let faith in God dictate my response, or to let my diminished confidence in what this world offers me make me grumble.

It seems that the things of the world can captivate my thinking and turn my eyes from their focus on the wonderful hope we have in Jesus Christ for eternal life. Here I am making plans for my personal provisions and security, when Jesus has already provided for all that and more. Too often I look around at the world instead of looking above me at the Lord.

In a seemingly endless pattern of complaining, consequences, and correction, the Israelites once again needed to be taught a lesson about trusting their heavenly Father.

 Numbers 21:4-9 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

John 3:14-15 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

This time God taught the people a faith lesson by using poisonous snakes. To rescue them from this infestation, God had Moses make a bronze snake and place it on a pole, so that anyone who looked at it would live. Notice that God’s solution was not to take away the snakes or to stop the venom from being imbedded in their flesh, but rather He stopped the effects of the venom in their lives.

What an incredible picture of our lives today in Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself uses this story to depict His own crucifixion in John 3:14-15. He tells us to look to Him, just as the Israelites looked to the snake on the pole, so that we may live.  The Serpent still attacks and attempts to sink His fangs into our lives, poisoning us with the venom of the world. But with eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, we will not only survive but we will live abundantly and eternally. Satan has not been removed from the world, but the sting of his venom – death – has been removed.

When we are tempted to look around us at all the serpents that are coiled to strike us with their poison, we must remember that when we are looking at our Savior Jesus, their venom is powerless. The snake of inflation cannot interrupt the flow of God’s provision. The snake of dependence upon oil cannot overpower our dependence upon the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit. The snake of war and injustice cannot take away our peace and justification in Christ. The snake of broken relationships cannot destroy the permanence of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Take your eyes off whatever snake is coiled to strike you right now, and at Christ.

“In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5)

He is our Hope and our Salvation. In Him we have life, and it is eternal and abundant. The snakes cannot invalidate your inheritance, so don’t let them infect your inclinations. Instead, “Incline your heart unto the Lord” (Joshua 24:23). He is faithful and will not fail.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, May 9, 2019

The Israelites are nearing the end of their forty years of wandering the desert. The previous generation made a faithless choice to not enter the Promised Land. Their wandering was God’s discipline to train them to walk by faith.  Most of those responsible for that choice have now died, and the next generation of people is ready to begin their advance towards the land God promised them. But as we mentioned yesterday, this new generation carries on the practice of grumbling when things go wrong. God needed to teach them another lesson of faith.

Numbers 20:6-12 Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. The LORD said to Moses, “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.” So Moses took the staff from the LORD’S presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

Notice God’s grace in this well-known story. When Moses and Aaron approach God with the complaints of the people there is something different about His response from previous instances of grumbling. God gives Moses a solution to the problem without any consequences to the people. In the past, with the previous generation, consistent grumbling from faithless hearts was dealt with severely by God. But this was a new generation of people and God dealt gently with them. As the old leadership has died off, this younger generation is taking on new roles. They are inexperienced, and have only the past grumblers as an example of how to lead.

God understands this. Moses did not. Moses allowed the hurts of the past to be resurrected and his pride to become the motivator of his actions. Look at what Moses did:

1. He directly disobeyed God by speaking to the people and not to the rock. He had been given no permission or authority to use this opportunity as a time to correct the people. He was simply told to speak to the rock and let them observe the power of God. How many times do we overstep our boundaries with people by attempting to correct them from the outside rather than letting the Holy Spirit correct them from the inside by letting them see God’s grace in us?
2. He also directly disobeyed God by striking the rock rather than speaking to it. Moses seemed to think the people needed to see the justice of God rather than the grace of God. That is not what God wanted them to see at this time. There is a place for that, as the last generation had experienced, but not with this new group of people. God knew that they needed to see His mercy and grace, not judgment. In his arrogance, Moses thought he knew better than God. He reacted emotionally rather than with sensitivity to the people and to God’s plan. I know that we do the same in our relationships with people. We judge and condemn quickly, when God would have us show the world His grace and love.
3. His pride was the cause of his choices. God tells Moses what he did wrong:
   1. Your faith in Me is still too small in that you did not trust My way as being the best way to bring these people along in their faith.
   2. You did not honor Me in the sight of the people. You claimed power for yourself that is rightfully Mine. It was I who would bring the water out of the rock, not you.
   3. You did not give the people a proper perspective of My holiness because you skipped the grace and mercy and went right to the judgment.

As a result of his actions, after over 40 years of faithful leadership of the people, Moses was told that he and his brother Aaron would not be allowed to enter the Promised Land. Moses was judged by God by the same standard he had used to judge the people. God had not called the people “rebels”. Moses had.  God said Moses was the rebel. Those guilty of rebellion were not allowed to experience the Promised Land.

Let’s be careful that before we look at the speck in someone else’s eye we make sure we don’t have a log in our own. Let’s be people of obedience, honoring the holiness of God before people, and understand that it is grace and love that win the hearts of man.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

When I read the history of the Israelites, I am amazed at how visible God was and how rebellious the people were. In my pride I think, “If I could have seen the mighty works of God the way those people did I would never have doubted or grumbled.” Just look at their past experiences. They refused to enter the promised land because of the faithless testimony of ten spies, and they watched as God wiped them from the earth with a plague. Then several key leaders began a mutiny of sorts against Moses, and 250 people formed a committee with the sole purpose of overthrowing his leadership. In response, God judged them severely and they were killed with the fire of the Lord. The very next day the Israelites grumbled against Moses and blamed him for the deaths of the leaders, and God again demonstrated His power by bringing a plague that killed 14,700 people.  Then, to affirm His call on Aaron’s life as the spiritual leader of the priesthood, God had each tribe’s leader place a staff in the tabernacle and declared that the chosen one would bud. In the morning, not only had Aaron’s staff budded, but this dead stick had also blossomed and produced a harvest of almonds.

At this point I would like to think that I would have been on my face before God with thanksgiving for His love and care. I hope I would have repented of any doubts I had that He was capable of providing for my every need.  But would I have been any more faithful than they were? I probably would have joined them in continuing to complain that things weren’t right. The first time something went wrong again, they grumbled.

Numbers 20:1-5 In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried. Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! Why did you bring the LORD’S community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”

They didn’t have any water, and they blamed God. It’s been over forty years since they left Egypt, and most of the people who had refused to enter the Promised Land were dead. Those alive were the ones who were not held responsible for the rejection of God’s plan, but they looked back at their youthful days in Egypt and wanted to go back. All they could think about were the luxuries of life – figs, pomegranates, and grapes – rather than the way God had sustained them and provided for them for the past 40 years.

I would like to think I would never do that, and I bet you do to. But let’s look honestly at our own history. Take some time to do this exercise. Reflect on your past 40 years, if you are that old, and make a list of all the wonderful and powerful ways that God has worked on your behalf. List His physical protection, physical and emotional healing, financial provision, answered prayers, loved ones saved, needs met, and so on. Your list will probably be a long one.

Now look at the latest entry on the list – maybe it was yesterday or the day before. Have you complained since that event? Have you doubted since that direct experience with God? Has some circumstance of life caused you to turn inward instead of upward? I have. I’m ashamed. We are no different than the Israelites except we’re worse.

Why are we worse? Because the Israelites only saw the effects of God on their circumstances. We have the abiding presence of Jesus Christ living within us through the Holy Spirit. Every moment of every day is a direct experience with God, and we still doubt and grumble. Something needs to change, and it is our faith. It is time to admit that our faith is not weak, it is just misplaced. We have plenty of faith, but it’s placed in the wrong people or things. Our faith quickly turns from the invisible God to the visible self. Knowing the limitations of self, we soon turn from faith to doubt.

We must return to faith in God. We must not look at the seemingly endless hardships of our life but rather look at the enduring love of the Father. He will not fail! He cannot fail!  Let’s fall on our faces today in repentance, confessing our doubts and grumblings and our need for faith in His everlasting love and care. He has done it in the past. He is still doing it!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

In our study of the life of Moses, we have reached the 15^th chapter of Numbers, which is an interlude from the action in which God gives some more specific instructions about the sacrifices that were to be made when the people entered the Promised Land. The context of what He taught them is summed up in this passage of Scripture –

Acts 2:44-45 All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.

God declares throughout Scripture that all things are His, and everything we have is to be at His disposal. A fundamental of our faith is that with gratitude for God’s grace we can sacrifice the first and best of everything we have for the Lord’s work. This may mean that we live at a lower financial standard than our neighbors, but the value of our lives is not determined by our financial wealth, but rather by our spiritual wealth. Jesus said that our heart’s condition is directly connected to what we consider the treasures of our lives. May our treasure never be earthly, but may our treasure always be heavenly.

Test your attitude about this faith principle with the following list of things God will not ask you on the Day you see Him in glory.

1. God won’t ask how much money you had invested for your financial security. He’ll ask how much you invested in His Kingdom to provide eternal security for others.
2. God won’t ask what kind of car you drove.  He’ll ask how many people you drove who didn’t have transportation.
3. God won’t ask the square footage of your house.He’ll ask how many people you welcomed into your home.
4. God won’t ask about the clothes you had in your closet.  He’ll ask how many you helped to clothe.
5. God won’t ask what your highest salary was.  He’ll ask if you compromised your character to obtain it.
6. God won’t ask what your job title was. He’ll ask if you performed your job to the best of our ability.
7. God won’t ask how many friends you had.  He’ll ask how many people to whom you were a friend.
8. God won’t ask in what neighborhood you lived.He’ll ask how you treated your neighbors.
9. God won’t ask about the color of your skin.He’ll ask about the content of your character.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, May 6, 2019

Missed opportunities. It’s the story line of our lives. The story is much larger than we know. We remember with regret the times we should have gone right instead of left or the times we should have stopped instead of proceeded.  But there are so many other missed opportunities of which we are not aware. We know that we have spent many days listening only to self and have missed untold numbers of opportunities to listen to God’s direction. We are by nature sheep that have gone astray, and to compensate we have become fixers. We attempt to go back to where we went wrong and create another opportunity for correctness, hoping that this will soften or eliminate the consequences.

Numbers 14:39-45 When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. Early the next morning they went up toward the high hill country. “We have sinned,” they said. “We will go up to the place the LORD promised.” Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the LORD’S command? This will not succeed! Do not go up, because the LORD is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, for the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the LORD, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.” Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the high hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the LORD’S covenant moved from the camp. Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.

In today’s story, going back doesn’t work when it is our own attempt to make up for sin. Our attempts to correct the consequences of sin are futile. Sometimes God directs people to try again under His direction. Other times God wants us to grow in our faith by enduring the consequences of our mistakes. Mature faith always listens for God’s direction, even if that means suffering the consequences of a previous disobedience. Two wrongs never make a right.

This is why daily fellowship with God is so important. Several things are accomplished when we daily spend time with God:

1. We train our heart and mind and spirit to listen to God and not the world, thereby becoming servants rather than self-serving.
2. We come to a deeper understanding of God’s involvement in every detail of our lives.
3. We move to a deeper level of love and trust as we see God’s heart of good in all that is done.
4. We experience the thrill of being a partner with God in accomplishing His purpose, which motivates more listening and fewer missed opportunities.

If you’re going through a time of hardship and suffering right now because of a missed opportunity or a disobeyed direction, do not go back and try to do it over – unless you know from your intimate time with Jesus that He has asked you to. There may not be any going back, but there is definitely a future based on the forgiveness of God. The strength of the Lord is His patience, love, and forgiveness. Fall on your knees before Him right now and ask to be restored. He will do it, and He will show you the direction to take today to get you back on His path. There may be consequences to endure, but there is fellowship to enjoy, and His Presence gives peace and strength.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, May 3, 2019

Moses and the people of Israel have had many opportunities to see the strength of the Lord during their deliverance from Egypt. His power was displayed in the plaques against Pharaoh, in the parting of the Red Sea, and in the miracles of provision in the desert. Now Moses is asking for a display of God’s real strength, and his request teaches us an important lesson about the strengths of our own lives.

Numbers 14:17-18a “Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared: ‘The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.’”

When Moses asks God to display His strength, it is in the context of human rebellion. The people are refusing to walk by faith and take possession of the Promised Land. God expresses His right to destroy them.  He also reminds Moses of His power and willingness to start over with the faithful few. Moses intervenes on behalf of the people and says in essence, “God, I know you are powerful enough to destroy sinners and their sin, but let the real strength of Your character be displayed by loving the sinners and forgiving them.”

I am deeply challenged by this. I find it easy to define strength in human terms, which are primarily physical. I also find it easy to define my responses and reactions to situations as strength because of my ability to accomplish a desired outcome. I remember the time I spent over one hour on the phone with a service provider for our church.  They had overcharged us almost $50 for their mistake and they would not correct it. I got pretty strong with them by our human definition of strength. I’m not proud of who I thought I had to become to bring about my desired outcome.

But there is a level of strength that is modeled by God in His every day responses to our human behavior. It is to be the model for our growing faith and character as well, and it involves 3 things:

1. God is slow to anger. His patience with people’s failures and inconsistencies is incredible, and because of that we survive each day. Maybe there are those around us who need a chance to survive another day.
2. God abounds in love. He never stops doing what is best for others, even when they don’t deserve it. It is not a true act of love if it is earned. Maybe there are others around us who need to see real love.
3. God forgives sin. Moses asked for forgiveness on behalf of the people. They did not realize they even needed it. They were so blinded by their sin that they thought they were right. God forgave them anyway. Maybe there are those around us who need a gift of grace – an act of forgiveness – even though they have not asked for it.

My friends, how do you measure your strength? God’s strength was displayed in its highest form by these three characteristics. May we learn to display strength as He does.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, May 2, 2019

How many times a day do you use the word “but”? Probably many more than you realize. It is one of the most influential words in our vocabulary. It has the power to kindle a fire of fear while extinguishing the flames of faith. It is a word of transition from assurance to apprehension. It creates compromise rather than confirming covenant. It results in reconsideration rather than risk.

This one word spread negativity throughout the nation of Israel and impeded their progress when they should have positively accepted the invitation of God to invade.

Numbers 13:27-31 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.” Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”

Two times in the story the 10 spurious spies argue from fear rather than faith and convince the people of Israel to doubt God’s direction. To their credit, the spies did report that the blessings of the land were incredible. They brought back exceptional fruit. To their culpability, they were convinced that the personal risk was far too great for the material benefit. They had forgotten that the foundation of God’s promise to them was not material blessing but spiritual blessing. Their focus shifted from God’s covenant promise that they would be a blessing to all the other nations of the world to the personal benefits that they should receive for their obedience. They did what any of us would do when our focus shifts from God’s purpose to man’s perspective – they saw only man’s power and not God’s omnipotence, and they became afraid. From their human vantage point they saw insurmountable obstacles. From a vantage point of faith they could have seen opportunities for God’s intervention.

The fear that overcame them was so powerful that they began to assume facts not already in evidence. Look closely at Numbers 13:33 – “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

It was one thing for them to admit an insecurity about their own stature and status, but it was totally wrong of them to believe that they knew what the inhabitants of the land were thinking about them. In fact, if they were still thinking with a mind of faith, they would have remembered the promise of God when He said, “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you. Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.”

God had already promised to make the very people of whom they were now afraid to be filled with fear of them and that He would drive them out.

This story has clear applications to our lives. We use “buts” to renegotiate God’s purpose for our lives. We use “buts” to validate our personal desires and ambitions. We use “buts” to reduce personal risk. We use “buts” to defend our fears. We use “buts” to justify our insecurities. We have shifted our focus from the spiritual to the material, and we have embellished the facts to defend our position.

It is possible that right now you are walking by the sight of man’s perspective rather than by faith in God’s promises. I pray that God will use these insights to challenge that area of your life today, and that you will become a Joshua or Caleb and proclaim with bold faith, “we can certainly do it!”

Pastor John