Numbers 13:17-33
"The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
(ZEPHANIAH 3:17)
The image of a little guy in my Sunday School class is embedded in my memory. To see the joy on his mom's face as he joined the others in our picnic game was grand. In spite of outgoing parents and siblings, he was uncomfortable in most social situations. On this occasion he was laughing and having fun. Although the shyness soon engulfed him again, I'd seen his mother delight in him at that moment.
Regardless of age, we are God's kids. Like children we make mistakes when we try new things. We often fall short. We fail. But the Lord takes delight in us, rejoicing over us whether we are soaring in accomplishment or wallowing in despair. Our God loves us unconditionally, no matter what we do.
Does your life feel like you're wasting 40 years circling the same mountain, Israelite style? Fears mounted as the Israelites learned the Promised Land was full of giants. Take a few steps, even if you stumble. Our Lord - greater than any giant and all our fears - will pick you up and take pleasure in you, His child.
INSIGHT
THE LORD OF ALL CREATION WILL TAKE GREAT DELIGHT
IN YOU!
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Genesis 5-7
Psalm 3
Matthew 5
Numbers 13:17-33
New International Version (NIV)
17 When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? 20 How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)
21 So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. 22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 When they reached the Valley of Eshkol,[a] they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. 25 At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.
Report on the Exploration
26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 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. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 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.”
30 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.”
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
Footnotes:
a. Numbers 13:23 Eshkol means cluster; also in verse 24
THE BIBLE IN 90 DAYS [PART 2]
with Ted Cooper
Many Christians have been disappointed for the same reason - they have never read the Bible from cover to cover. One way to fix this is to commit to the challenge of reading the Bible in 90 days.
No comments:
Post a Comment