Category: Daily Prayers

49.d. Wilderness – 13.j. “The Penalty for Israel’s Rebellion”

 

Deuteronomy 1:34-39  “And the LORD heard your words and was angered, and he swore, ‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land on which he has trodden, because he has wholly followed the LORD!’ Even with me the LORD was angry on your account and said, ‘You also shall not go in there. Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.

In response to Israel’s unbelief and lack of trust in God’s love, God swore an oath (Psalm 95:11) that the adult generation which came out of Egypt would not inherit the Promised Land, but would die in the desolate wilderness instead. The only exceptions were Caleb and Joshua. These were the faithful two among the twelve spies which came back with the report from the Promised Land. Even Moses himself would not enter the Promised Land. (Guzik)

And the Lord heard the voice of your words,…. Of their murmurings against Moses and Aaron, and of their threatenings to them, Joshua and Caleb, and of their impious charge of hatred of them to God for bringing them out of Egypt, and of their rash wishes that they had died there or in the wilderness, and of their wicked scheme and proposal to make them a captain, and return to Egypt again: (Gill)

Doubts form out of lack of trust and reliance in God and lead to disobedience. Knowing God and having an ever-growing desire to know more and more of Him will give us confidence in His power and sovereignty over all things on earth and in heaven. I dare say that lack of desire for His Word and knowing Him more and more leaves a void that will be filled with foolish thoughts, doubts, fear, anger, worry, confusion, etc…. His Word is given to us so that we have examples of His awesome power, might, and control over all things. It also gives us examples of His grace, mercy, and love, as well as, right and wrong thinking which led to distrust, disregard, and denial of His power, promises, purpose, and plans.

49.c. Wilderness – 13.i. “Israel’s Refusal to Enter the Land”

 

Deu 1:21-28  See, the LORD your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’ Then all of you came near me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may explore the land for us and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up and the cities into which we shall come.’ The thing seemed good to me, and I took twelve men from you, one man from each tribe. And they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out. And they took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and brought us word again and said, ‘It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.’ “Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. And you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the LORD hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”’  Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the LORD your God,  who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go.

As Moses remembered this suggestion, he looked back with regret. There really was no compelling reason to send forth spies into the Promised Land.  God had told them that the land was good. Unless they did not believe Him, there was no reason to confirm it on their own. God had told them they would take the land and defeat the nations living there. Unless they did not believe Him, there was no reason to take a look at the enemies and see if God was somehow up to the challenge. Moses must have had regret as he remembered this. The people suggested it and Moses agreed to it. Yet when ten of the twelve spies came back with a report filled with fear and unbelief, the nation believed them and refused to believe God’s promise and enter in. (Guzik)

Moses reminds the Israelites of their march from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea, through that great and terrible wilderness. He shows how near they were to a happy settlement in Canaan. It will aggravate the eternal ruin of hypocrites, that they were not far from the kingdom of God. As if it were not enough that they were sure of their God before them, they would send men before them. Never any looked into the Holy Land, but they must own it to be a good land. And was there any cause to distrust this God? An unbelieving heart was at the bottom of all this. All disobedience to God’s laws, and distrust of his power and goodness, flow from disbelief of his word, as all true obedience springs from faith. It is profitable for us to divide our past lives into distinct periods; to give thanks to God for the mercies we have received in each, to confess and seek the forgiveness of all the sins we can remember; and thus to renew our acceptance of God’s salvation, and our surrender of ourselves to his service. Our own plans seldom avail to good purpose; while courage in the exercise of faith, and in the path of duty, enables the believer to follow the Lord fully, to disregard all that opposes, to triumph over all opposition, and to take firm hold upon the promised blessings. (Henry)

Trusting and relying on God in all things leaves no room for doubting His promises, power, goodness, grace, mercy, and sovereignty. There is no room for doubt. When God speaks into your heart hear and obey His leading. It is far better for the soul to trust in our all-powerful God than to live in doubt and fear.

Will Graham Devotion

 

Things were going wrong in his personal life. He was immersed in a society that valued everything that he stood against. He was pressured to bow down and worship things that he knew were wrong. There was constant temptation to succumb to the worldliness around him.

Sound familiar? No, I’m not talking about the world in which we live today, but rather a young man from the Old Testament who was captured and taken into captivity in Babylon. I’m talking about Daniel.

The prophet Daniel is widely considered one of the greatest men in the entire Bible. In fact, unlike many other heroes of the faith, there is nothing negative said about him at all.

In Daniel chapter 1, we see a young man who was going through difficult tribulations:

  • Daniel’s home of Jerusalem had been overthrown, and he’d been carried off into a foreign and godless land as a slave of Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar.
  • Daniel endured a “reeducation program” of sorts, meant to brainwash Daniel and the other young men to assimilate them into the Babylonian culture and prepare them to serve the king. He was taught astrology and magic, as well as Babylon’s Chaldean language.
  • He was given a new name. No longer would he be called Daniel (God is my judge), but now he would be called Belteshazzar (Bel protect my life), a pagan name.
  • Daniel was expected to eat the king’s meals, which were certainly gourmet. This was an indulgence that many would have happily accepted.

New home, new education, new language, new name, new food. … All of these things were an attempt by the Babylonians and King Nebuchadnezzar to indoctrinate the young Israelites, including Daniel, into their culture. And I’m sure that many of them were more than happy to enjoy the spoils.

Daniel could have gone along with all this by compromising his convictions as well. He could have said, “Everyone else is doing it,” or “I better obey the king!”

However, Daniel “purposed in his heart” that he would not disobey God (verse 8), even amid the pressure and temptations. He even convinced the powers-that-be to allow him to eat a diet of vegetables and water rather than the king’s royal feast.

Because of his faithfulness and obedience, “God gave them [Daniel and his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah] knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams” (verse 17).

Fast forward through the centuries to today. You haven’t been captured and carried into a far-away land (I certainly hope not!), but the society around you perhaps looks unfamiliar and troubling. Young people—like Daniel in his day—are especially being led astray by a culture that is largely opposite of the life we’re called to live as followers of Christ.

With so many prevalent temptations all around us, it would be easy to assimilate and enjoy all that the world has to offer, but like Daniel, we must purpose in our hearts to serve Jesus and Him alone. We must feast on the things of the Lord rather than the evils of this age. As we do, God will not only give wisdom and understanding, but—I believe—opportunities to share His hope with those around you.

It’s hard to find peace in this troubled world, but Christ came so “that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10, ESV). Would like to begin a relationship with Jesus and find the hope that He offers?

“Turning Point Devotion”

 

Psalm 119:11  Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.

John 8:43-44  Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.  You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

What do we do when we think we’ve received some incorrect information? We go back to the source: the warranty, the instruction book, the letter, the person—wherever the correct information is located. Bad information can only lead to bad outcomes. Nowhere is that truer than in the spiritual realm.Since Satan traffics only in lies (John 8:43-44), he is more than ready to feed us bad information about God. And his lies can only lead to a bad outcome in our relationship with God. Satan tried to give Jesus bad information when they had an encounter in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). Satan misrepresented God and His Word three times. But Jesus countered his lies with a correct rendering of God’s truth with three verses from Deuteronomy. As far as we know, Jesus didn’t have a copy of Deuteronomy with Him in the wilderness. Instead, He quoted the Scriptures from memory and rebuffed Satan’s temptations. Jesus exemplified Psalm 119:11—hiding God’s Word in one’s heart to avoid sin.

Are you in a daily habit of taking in and memorizing God’s Word? Truth is the only way to counter Satan’s lies.

The truth of Scripture demolishes speculation.

49.b. Wilderness – 13.h. “So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men”

 

Deu 1:9  “At that time I said to you, ‘I am not able to bear you by myself. The LORD your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven. May the LORD, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, as he has promised you! How can I bear by myself the weight and burden of you and your strifeChoose for your tribes wise, understanding, and experienced men, and I will appoint them as your heads.’ And you answered me, ‘The thing that you have spoken is good for us to do.’ So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and set them as heads over you, commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officers, throughout your tribes. And I charged your judges at that time, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien who is with him. You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God’s. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’ And I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.

Moses experienced this crisis in Numbers 11 when the people complained again about the food God provided. To help Moses bear the burden, God directed him to appoint seventy elders to assist him in bearing up under the pressure of leading the nation. As described in Numbers 11, these elders had a precious function: To stand there with Moses (Numbers 11:16), to have the same Spirit as Moses, and to bear the burden of the people with Moses (Numbers 11:17). Moses chose the elders of Israel by using a combination of approval by the congregation, and approval by Moses himself. Moses then instructed the elders in principles of righteous leadership, and thus relieved himself of many burdens. (Guzik)

Moses reminds them that he had done all that was required on his part to conduct the people to the enjoyment of what God had freely given to them. The people had so increased in number that Moses found himself unable to attend to all the matters that concerned them, or to adjudicate in all the differences that arose among them. God had brought to pass that which he had promised to Abraham (Genesis 15:5), that his seed should be as the stars of heaven for multitude; in this Moses rejoiced, nay, he would even that their numbers were, with the Divine blessing, increased a thousandfold beyond what they were. But he found the burden, the weight of care and trouble, especially in connection with their strifes and suits thereby brought on him, too much for him; and, therefore, whilst they were still at Horeb, he had, following the advice of Jethro, his father-in-law, counseled them to select competent men from among themselves, who should relieve him by attending to those duties which he found it too burdensome for him to have to attend to. (Unknown)

Sometimes the weight of the position we are in, the expectations of those we serve, the complaints and concerns of the people (some rightly and some wrongly), and the seemingly endless strife of both minimal or complicated issues just take the joy out of life. We can see this not only in our professions but also in our churches. People being wronged or feeling they have been wronged. Many times our position does not allow us to see all of the consequences of the decisions (or lack thereof) that may cause concern for others. Sometimes people will rightly and humbly bring up their concerns and other times they will not. Grumbling can and does find its way into people’s hearts, which is the root of issues. People can grumble just for the sake of what they have heard 2nd and 3rd hand. They join in for a perceived wrong. They do not know the whole issue but speak as though they do and speak down upon those in leadership roles. 

Paul and Peter both speak of keeping this type of mindset at bay in a person’s mind and heart. They say these types of actions and mindset should not be what drives us, but rather that of grace, mercy, love, kindness, forgiving, and even to the point of allowing ourselves to be wronged for the sake of unity.  

Pathway to Victory Devotion – “The Way Of Escape From Temptation”

God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

–1 Corinthians 10:13

Paul closed the first half of 1 Corinthians 10 with a warning and a promise. Look at the warning in verse 12: “Let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.” No matter what spiritual privileges you have experienced in the past, do not think you are immune from sin and God’s judgment. Instead, Paul said, take an inventory of your heart right now.

Are there things you are craving in your life that you know are outside of God’s will for you? Is there anyone or anything you love more than you love God? Are you engaged in any secret immorality in your life? Is there some sin you think you have been getting away with that you need to repent of? Are you discontent with what God has given to you? Learn from the example of the Israelites. God will not let those kinds of sin go unpunished.

Finally, Paul offered a promise in verse 13: “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” No temptation comes into our lives that is not common to everyone. Everyone is tempted with evil desires, idolatry, and grumbling. But we do not have to give in to those things because God has provided the way of escape from temptation. What is that way of escape? Jesus said it Himself in John 14:6: “I am the way.” Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of faith.”

If you want to escape sin in your life, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Look at how He dealt with temptation and imitate it in your life. What did Jesus do when He was tempted in the wilderness? He prayed. When He was in Gethsemane wrestling with God’s will for His life, He prayed. When He was on the cross, He prayed. Prayer was instrumental in giving Jesus the spiritual strength He needed to say no to sin. Jesus also saturated His mind with the Word of God. He so knew the Word of God that He knew exactly which Scripture to use in each tempting situation.

If Jesus, the perfect Son of God, knew He could not afford to become complacent in His spiritual life, if He knew He had to continually fortify Himself through prayer and God’s Word, how much more important is it for you and me to guard against complacency? Imitate Jesus’s life, and you will also imitate His victory over sin.

To fortify something you must add and build onto and into it that which is strengthening. Look at how Paul talked about fortification:

Ephesians 10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 

And Peter said it like this:

2 Peter 1:3.  His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

10Therefore, my brothers and sisters, a make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Will Graham Devotion

 

“Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.”

—Acts 6:3

Have you ever noticed how life’s distractions and temptations can change your spirit?

Think about it. You go into work in the morning with a smile on your face and a song in your heart, only to overhear a coworker denigrating your abilities in front of your boss. How do you react? Later you have an opportunity to work your way out of a difficult situation by bending the truth to fit your needs and cover your back. How do you react now?

Finally, you see an accounting error that could add some extra money to your paycheck if you simply stay quiet and do nothing. With all of these frustrations and temptations piling up, you probably would not be feeling overly spiritual at that point.

The fact of the matter is that in our fast-paced society, with so many different distractions around every corner, it is easy to be filled with a worldly mindset and not be filled with the Holy Spirit. That, however, is no excuse.

Frankly, we are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit. What does this mean? It means that you are to be under the total influence of the Holy Spirit—God, dwelling in you, ordering your steps.

Stephen, the first Christian martyr in the Scriptures, provides a beautiful picture of someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit, especially when compared to the Sanhedrin (religious/political leaders of the day). Acts 6:3 and 7:54-8:1 offer a few key characteristics of a man who was facing the cold reality of death at the hands of an angry mob.

1. Be of Good Report

First, someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit is of good report (Acts 6:3). It is not that having good report—being known by others as virtuous and pure—fills you with the Holy Spirit, but it is the Holy Spirit that allows you to have this trait. The members of the Sanhedrin were the opposite of this. They were called murderers, betrayers, stubborn, and disobedient (Acts 7:51–53).

2. Welcome the Truth

Second, unlike the Sanhedrin, those who are filled with the Holy Spirit welcome the truth (Acts 7:55–56). Stephen sees Christ standing at the right hand of God, and he was glad to commit his spirit to God. Conversely, those who were not filled with the Spirit began to “cry out in a loud voice” because they heard the truth and wanted to drown it out by their own words (Acts 7:57). They also covered their ears, trying to prevent the truth from affecting them.

3. Intercede for Others

Finally, those who are filled with the Holy Spirit will intercede for others (Acts 7:60). Stephen was falsely accused, falsely arrested, and was about to be stoned, and yet he prayed for those who were about to murder him. What compassion! The only way Stephen could do this was because he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Eternity Is at Stake

Like Stephen, being filled with the Holy Spirit needs to be a way of life for us. Too often we only want to be filled with the Spirit on Sundays, and as soon as we leave our church service, we return to our worldly routines of mundane tasks, acceptable temptations or angry confrontations.

However, a Holy Spirit-filled life has a lot to do with your effectiveness as an evangelist for the cause of Christ. If you are someone who truly wants to reach the lost (a motivation all believers should share), you need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. If you have been witnessing to a friend from work, but live a sinful life indistinguishable from the nonbelievers around you, you are likely doing more harm than good for the Kingdom of God.

Conversely, if you take the distractions, frustrations, and temptations of this world and handle them with the purity, truth and compassion of the Holy Spirit, others will want to know what it is that makes you tick. They will want to know what is missing in their life that is present in yours.

My friends, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Eternity is at stake.

49.a. Wilderness – 13.g. “Numbers – Conclusion”

The Book of Numbers is rich and full of first-hand documented accounts of the exodus of the Israelites when they were freed from Egypt by the grace and mercy of God’s hand.

There are many examples of:

  1. The intent and purposes of God’s deliverance for the Israelites.
  2. God’s miraculous provisions
  3. God’s awesome power
  4. God’s Love
  5. God’s Grace
  6. God’s Mercy
  7. God’s Justice
  8. God’s Wrath
  9. God’s Anger
  10. God’s Sovereignty
  11. God’s Plan
  12. God’s Commandments
  13. God’s ability to know the thoughts and intents residing in the hearts and minds of all people
  14. God’s design for leadership
  15. God’s expectations
  16. God’s Promises

There are also examples of how the people reacted towards God and His chosen leaders:

  1. Grumbling
  2. Challenging
  3. Hauty
  4. Proud
  5. Jealousy
  6. Greed
  7. Disbelieving
  8. Disregarding
  9. Unrepentant
  10. Division causing
  11. Anger
  12. Forgetful
  13. Never satisfied
  14. Longing to return back to the way things were
  15. No trust
  16. No Reliance
  17. No commitment
  18. Rebelling
  19. Lip service toward God

The Israelites could have been out of the wilderness and all the training in expectations God had for them. They could have been heading into the promised land within two years of their exodus. Instead, they rebelled and that generation was left to wonder for forty years and die in the wilderness never to set foot in the promised land.

There are consequences for our thoughts and actions. If our faith, trust, and reliance are subject to things of this world we will certainly not see the promised land – Heaven.

48.z. Wilderness – 13.e. Cities of Refuge

 

Num 35:9-15  And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there. The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment. And the cities that you give shall be your six cities of refuge. You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge. These six cities shall be for refuge for the people of Israel, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills any person without intent may flee there.

Num 35:29-33  And these things shall be for a statute and rule for you throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. “If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death. And you shall accept no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the high priest. You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

The purpose of the cities of asylum was to protect the manslayer who kills any person accidentally. They were to protect someone in the case of manslaughter as opposed to murder. In the ancient culture of Israel, it was not left entirely up to the government to avenge a murder. Each extended family had a recognized avenger who would ensure that one who murdered a family member would likewise be killed. The institution of the family avenger was never commanded in Scripture; it was a broad cultural practice that was regulated by Scripture.  “It is quite possible to do unjust things in the name of justice. It was against such a possibility that these cities were provided.” Therefore, such a man could flee to a city of refuge – an appointed Levitical city, where he could stay, safe from the avenger of blood, until he could stand before the congregation in judgment and he could leave the city of refuge safely. (Guzik)

To show plainly the abhorrence of murder, and to provide the more effectually for the punishment of the murderer, the nearest relation of the deceased, under the title of avenger of blood, (or the redeemer of blood,) in notorious cases, might pursue, and execute vengeance. A distinction is made, not between sudden anger and malice aforethought, both which are the crime of murder; but between intentionally striking a man with any weapon likely to cause death, and an unintentional blow. In the latter case alone, the city of refuge afforded protection. Murder in all its forms, and under all disguises, pollutes a land.

Does not the highway of salvation, resemble the smooth and plain path to the city of refuge? Survey the path that leads to the Redeemer. Is there any stumbling-block to be found therein, except that which an evil heart of unbelief supplies for its own fall?

The gate of the city stood open night and day. Has not Christ declared, Him that cometh unto me I will in nowise cast out? 5. The city of refuge afforded support to every one who entered its walls. Those who have reached the refuge, may live by faith on Him.

The city was a refuge for all. In the gospel there is no respect of persons. That soul lives not which deserves not Divine wrath; that soul lives not which may not in simple faith hope for salvation and life eternal, through the Son of God. 

(Henry)

Pathway to Victory Devotion

 

These things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.–1 Corinthians 10:6

As Christians, we are not exempt from God’s discipline if we disobey Him. That was Paul’s warning to the church at Corinth. He pointed to the Israelites–even though they were God’s people, they fell into sin and experienced His judgment. Look at 1 Corinthians 10:1, 3-4: “I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; . . . and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink.”

God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. He revealed His law to them. He supernaturally provided for them in the desert. “Nevertheless,” Paul said, “with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness” (v. 5). That phrase “laid low” means “strewn.” They were scattered in the wilderness. This is a reference to Numbers 14. The Israelites sent twelve spies into the promised land to see what obstacles they might encounter. Ten spies came back and said, “The challenge is too great.” But two spies said, “Yes, the challenge is great, but our God is greater. If we will follow Him, we can overtake the land.” The people believed the majority report, and God pronounced His judgment against them: “Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers. . . . ‘[Their] corpses will fall in this wilderness’” (vv. 22-23, 29).

What happened to those Israelites who failed to believe God? They never entered the promised land. Instead, they experienced the harsh discipline of God. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:6, “These things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.” That word translated as “examples” is “tupoi,” which literally means “that which has been struck by a heavy blow.” Paul was saying the Israelites received the heavy blow of God against them so you and I can learn what happens to believers who fall away from God.

What lessons do we need to learn from the Israelites? First of all, God has not changed in three thousand years. He hates sin just as much and judges it just as fiercely today as He always has. Second, being the beneficiaries of God’s blessing does not exempt us from God’s judgment if we disobey Him. Today, the Christian landscape is littered with the lives of disobedient Christians who experienced the harsh judgment of God on their lives. Like the Israelites, they made the mistake of believing that because they were blessed by God, they were exempt from His judgment. No, we are all at risk of falling into sin and being disciplined by God.