Wednesday 6 Dec 2017

December 6: Numbers 11:31-35

Key Verse: Numbers 11:34
Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah (graves of lust), because there they buried the people who had craved other food.

Devotion:
No matter how we see things and what we think about things, there will always be times in our lives when we think that God is not doing enough for us! Those times are when we are thinking about something, maybe coveting it, but certainly lusting (thinking more than we should about it) after it. When we get to the stage of lusting, we allow our thoughts to get hold of us and we start to follow those thoughts, not taking care of the will of God, but our own will until we satisfy our wanton need.

Lust is typically used nowadays to describe our overzealous sexual desires towards others. We can all identify with those sort of feelings, maybe not through our own feelings, but certainly through what we see happening around us today. But what we have to watch out for is the lust of our thoughts towards other things in our lives. We can identify sexual desires and can probably control those, but what about the lusts towards money, drugs and even things like chocolate. We allow those feelings to control our lives. We allow simple things to get in the way of our normal way of thinking and living just because we get caught up in them. Most of the time we are caught up in the social aspect of our lusts, not realising there are severe anti-social sides to what we do as well.

But it's not just the fact we are being anti-social when we allow our lusts to control our lives. It's the fact we are extending that anti-social behaviour towards God during those times as well. Turning against yourself is one thing, but allowing your lusts to turn you away from God and His people is entirely different. We will have to face up to what we do if we choose to follow that route. When God allows certain things into our lives, He is doing so under the assumption we will accept things without going overboard. When you offer someone an open box of chocolates, you don't expect them to take all of the chocolates! Be aware of how much God loves you by seeing how much He does for you, but don't allow your lust to overstay your welcome!

Points to Ponder:
Is there one thing you will not share in case people take too much?

God shares everything with us; are we being good stewards?