We're taking an in-depth look at
Numbers, chapter 27 this week
at the end of Israel's 40 years of wandering
in the desert when God reminded Moses
that he was not going to be
going into the promised land
with the rest of the Israelites.
Let me just read that section for you quickly.
So God is telling Moses that he's not going in.
And he's reminding him why.
The incident that he's referring to
happened seven chapters earlier
in Numbers, chapter 20.
And in Numbers, chapter 20,
the Israelites were complaining that
they were thirsty in a desert.
Imagine that.
And so Moses and Aaron went to the Lord.
And the Lord said,
"Well, I want you to honor me in front of the Israelites
"by going up to that rock over there
"and telling it to produce water."
But that's not exactly what happened.
Moses went up to the rock
and instead of just talking to the rock,
he hit the rock, twice.
It still produced water.
Everybody got something to drink
but
that wasn't exactly what God told them to do.
So God told him right then and there,
"You're not going to be going into the promised land
with the rest of the Israelites."
And there are a couple of interesting things
that you might,
well, you might be
curious to hear about that incident
in Numbers, chapter 20.
The first one is this...
is that the Israelites had been really nasty
to Moses
right before they started complaining about their thirst.
They were complaining not only about their thirst,
but they had just told Moses
that they would rather be back in Egypt
dying
than in the desert following someone like him.
They didn't care that Moses
had left a very comfortable life
and a very profitable life
to come and risk his neck
to save them from the Egyptians.
They only cared about the fact
that they were thirsty,
that they were uncomfortable and
they blamed Moses for it.
The second thing you might be interested
in knowing is:
Do you know what Moses was doing
just before they started complaining
to Moses
about Moses?
He had just finished burying his sister,
Miriam.
Miriam had just died.
And the dirt from
putting her body in the ground
was still on the hands of Moses when
the people he came to save
basically told him that
they would rather have him in the grave.
And after that,
and after God reminded Moses
that those Israelites were going to be able
to go in but he wasn't,
I find it interesting that Moses
didn't get up and just walk away.
He didn't give up.
He didn't stop leading them.
He continued to lead them.
And scripture
doesn't give any indication that
any Israelites took the time
to say,
"Thanks."
But we can take the time
to say "Thanks" to someone who,
for us, did a very similar thing.
In Isaiah, chapter 53, it says this about Jesus,
He didn't object.
He didn't complain
even though he was underappreciated,
even though he was in pain,
even though it was our fault that he was in that position
in the first place.
He kept doing his job.
Which wasn't to lead Israel to their promised land,
but to lead us to ours.
And he did.
No matter what else you have going on today.
No matter how unappreciated you feel.
No matter how in pain.
That's enough reason to pause,
stop whatever it is you're doing,
think of Jesus,
and give thanks.
Did today's message help you?
If you're looking for more encouragements
to help you get through life's seasons of
disappointments, I invite you to
join me on this week's 'Time of Grace'
television program
where I'll be delivering a message designed
to help you do just that.
Watch on TV,
our website,
Roku or Apple TV
or listen to it on podcast on iTunes.
We'll see you tomorrow.