Tuesday Reading: Numbers 32:1-23
Key Verse: Numbers 32:23
23 But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord. And be sure your sin will find you out.
Devotion:
Nothing seemed to happen in half measures with the children of Israel as they wandered through the desert; well, nothing that God did, but much that man did was done in half measures! And so it continues on throughout history and into our lives as well – we like to think that we are subject to authority and that we do keep up in what we should be doing for God, but in reality we always seem to hold back at the crucial times!
These first verses tell us of the time when the tribes of Rueben and Gad decided that they were better off in the land that they were in than in the land that God had set aside for them. We can look back on that and think about how silly they must have been to think such a thing – but then we could also look into our own lives and look at the many times when God was trying to get us to do something or go somewhere and we simply turned back and said we are better off by ourselves rather than with God!
Yes, we have all been there! Yes we have all been a Jonah at some stage in our lives, and no matter how much we try to hide from that fact it is true! It may well have been something that we consider to be very minor and to have no effect on anything or anyone outside of us – but the fact is that we chose our own ways in preference to God’s ways. When we say it like that then we realise just what we are doing – but at the time we don’t even think about what we are doing! Just because it does not seem to affect anyone else does not mean that we are doing the right thing – there are God’s ways and then there is everything else… choose well…
Points to Ponder:
Are you head-strong?
Are you too head-strong to listen to God?