SCRIPTURE:
“’Why is the LORD taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?’” Numbers 14:3 (NLT)
MESSAGE:
It appears that it was easier for God to get his people out of Egypt than it was for Him to get Egypt out of the people. In today’s blog, we see that the people were ready to turn away from God’s promise and return to the land from which He delivered them. They were ready to return to slavery, and to the worship of the very gods who failed to save their masters.
Earlier, as they awaited Moses return from talking person to person with God and receiving the Ten Commandments, the people melted some of the gold that God had miraculously provided them and crafted a golden calf so they might worship like the Egyptians did. This leads us to the final demon in this series, False-Religion. By the way, if you haven’t read the others yet, you can get them here.
It seems unfathomable that in such a short time after being delivered from Egypt, they would return to their old ways, yet that is exactly what they did. The plagues and the Red Sea were now in the past. “What is God doing for us today?” they demanded. In clear sight of the thick cloud that surrounded Moses and God on Mount Sinai, and probably after a morning of collecting Manna from Heaven, the people of Israel crafted their own god and began to worship it. Wow, what blatant stupidity! But before we get too self-righteous and prideful, perhaps we should consider ways that we may do the same thing.
Several years ago, I had a friend whom God miraculously delivered from cigarette addiction. I mean after years and years of smoking, he simply had no desire for them. What a wonderful gift! After several years, he felt a temptation to “have just one.” He told me, “I figured I would have just one and then lay them down again just like I did before.” Unfortunately, it didn’t work that way. In dishonoring God’s tremendous gift, my friend opened the door for the curse of nicotine addiction to re-enter his life. As far as I know, he was never able to conquer it again. God is not someone we should toy with!
In an age where everything is customizable, we must realize that we cannot customize God. We cannot demand that He be what we want Him to be, do what we want Him to do, do things the way we want them done, or respond in our timing. Anything short of God’s complete nature is an image from our own imagination. Such an image is wholly inadequate to save us from our sins or deliver us from the evil one. We need the One true God and we must accept Him just as He is. Anything less than that is False Religion and as our scripture shows, that is not somewhere we want to go.
PRAYER:
Lord thank You for Your many blessings. We are grateful that You are who You are. In moments of wisdom we know that if You did everything the way we wanted, our lives would truly be a mess. After all, we see the results when we do things our own way and time. They eventually fall to ashes. Help us to accept You as You are and trust that everything You do is for our ultimate good. Bless each reader today with wisdom to follow You in all Your ways. We love You and bless Your Name. Amen!