THE LORD SPOKE (February 28)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Old Testament: Numbers 14-15

How could it be? “The whole assembly talked about stoning them.” (Num. 14:10). Not the unfaithful spies who led the people away from God. They were talking about stoning Moses and Aaron, and probably Joshua and Caleb. The whole assembly! What was wrong with them? Was there not a man of integrity among the 600,000?

Apparently not, for God’s wrath was stirred against them. “The LORD said to Moses, ‘How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them? I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.’" (Num. 14:11-12)

Moses stood in the gap and argued (!) With the Lord for the people. God was ready to destroy the whole lot of them and start over again from scratch but Moses persuaded Him to display His sovereign strength in another way. "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. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.' In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now." (Num. 14:17-19)

So God did pardon them. But they still suffered the consequences of their sin. Not one of them was allowed to enter the Land of Promise. For the next forty years they died one-by-one in the desert. God said, “But you - your bodies will fall in this desert. Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. For forty years - one year for each of the forty days you explored the land - you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die." (Num. 14:32-35)

If you start with 603,550 men (Num. 2:32) and an equal number of women, over a period of 40 years, that comes to something like 82.6 people per day. Every day. For forty years. How did it take place? Did they know that tomorrow it would be everyone whose last name begins with “Fr...”? Or was it everyone born between September 3 and 8? One thing was sure, everyone’s number eventually came up and a new pile of rocks on the desert floor was all that they had to look forward to.

Except for Joshua and Caleb. In them was “a different spirit” (Num. 14:24). They followed the Lord with their whole heart.

Where are you in this? Do you follow the Lord wholeheartedly? Or are you going to be content to be just another pile of rocks on the desert floor?


New Testament: Luke 15

The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32)

I. HIS MADNESS
A. He wanted his tin.
B. He surrendered to sin.
C. He gave up his kin.
II. HIS BADNESS
A. He went to the dogs.
B. He ate with the hogs.
C. He hocked all his togs.
III. HIS GLADNESS
A. He was given the seal.
B. He ate up the veal.
C. He danced a reel.

You could do the same for his brother (he was a better lad, he got very mad, he made his dad sad...) but don’t miss the point!

1. The Father loves us beyond measure and desires our restoration always.
2. When we find ourselves lost and undone, the only right direction is to return to the Father.
3. Recognition of our guilt needs to be verbally specific and expressed to the Father in an articulate confession.
4. Failure to forgive a sinning brother is a deep grief to the Father.

If you’re a prodigal, you need to listen to this. If you’re not a prodigal, you may need to listen to it even more.