forty years – Praying Pint

49.f. Wilderness – 13.l. “I will not give you any of their land”

Deu 2:1-7 “Then we turned and journeyed into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea, as the LORD told me. And for many days we traveled around Mount Seir. Then the LORD said to me, ‘You have been traveling around this mountain country long enough. Turn northward and command the people, “You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful. Do not contend with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. You shall purchase food from them with money, that you may eat, and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink. For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.”’

And we compassed mount Seir many days. These “many days” are the thirty-eight years during which the people wandered in the wilderness before they camped the second time at Kadesh; their going round Mount Seir. (Unknown)

The descendants of Esau were distant relatives to the people of Israel (400 years earlier, the brother of Jacob was Esau). God didn’t want Israel to take the land that He gave to Esau and his descendants. Perhaps the most famous Edomite in the New Testament was Herod the Great. He was hated by the Jews because he was an Edomite, but he wanted to be received and respected as a Jew. Israel was not just some conquering army, out to get whatever land it could take. It probably was strong enough to simply take the land of Edom, but Israel only received what God had promised to them. God commanded Israel to treat the Edomites with respect, even though they could have dominated them as a stronger nation. How we treat those weaker than ourselves is always a good measure of character. When we have the capability to dominate or abuse others and do not, it shows that we have good character. For some of these reasons, God commanded Israel to treat the weaker nation of Edom well. (Guzik)

Only a short account of the long stay of Israel in the wilderness is given. God not only chastised them for their murmuring and unbelief, but prepared them for Canaan; by humbling them for sin, teaching them to mortify their lusts, to follow God, and to comfort themselves in him. Though Israel may be long kept waiting for deliverance and enlargement, it will come at last. Before God brought Israel to destroy their enemies in Canaan, he taught them to forgive their enemies in Edom. They must not, under pretence of God’s covenant and conduct, think to seize all they could lay hands on. Dominion is not founded in grace. God’s Israel shall be well placed, but must not expect to be placed alone in the midst of the earth. Religion must never be made a cloak for injustice. Scorn to be beholden to Edomites, when thou hast an all-sufficient God to depend upon. Use what thou hast, use it cheerfully. Thou hast experienced the care of the Divine providence, never use any crooked methods for thy supply. All this is equally to be applied to the experience of the believer. (Henry)

4.f. “They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed”

Nehemiah 9:6 “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you. You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.

“And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. And you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into mighty waters. By a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go. You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, and you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.

“But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies, you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

Nehemiah gives an account of Creation and the hand of God choosing Abraham because of his faith and making a covenant with him and his descendants to give them the possession of land from people who were evil and vile. He speaks of their rescue from Egypt and the wondrous works God performed then and in the wilderness. In all of this, Nehemiah recounts their father’s sin in refusing to be mindful of God’s wonders and obey. He also called out the fact that they themselves were no different and had stiffened their neck – they proudly denied serving God and did what was right in their own eyes.

We too must be mindful of our heart and know what is residing in it through the light of God’s word. When our necks stiffen it is not as though we have taken a firm, knowing stand against God, but rather we have chosen to neglect His word, what He has done, what He has promised, and what He will do. In this neglect, our eyes to our heart come to the point of being blind and our ears to our soul become deaf to His leading. We are left with a stiff neck toward the things of God and since He is not the light and the bread of life to our soul we end up doing what is right in our own eyes for the door to our heart, mind, and soul is closed tight through this neglect.

Read God’s word with the intent of gaining godly wisdom and understanding. Read it with eyes expecting to see something new revealed to your heart. Read it with ears desiring to hear the whispers of the Holy Spirit’s leading. Read it with the door to your heart, mind, and soul wide open. When we start to read it with this commitment we will start to understand what it means to humbly serve, honor, glorify, worship, praise, follow, trust, and obey Jesus Christ.

144. But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him

1 Kings 11:42 And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place. Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. And as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt. And they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.” He said to them, “Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away. Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.” But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs. And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”

So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.” And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him, he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

Proverbs 10:11   The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

Proverbs 10:32    The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked, what is perverse.

Ecclesiastes 10:12   The words of a wise man’s mouth win him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him.

James 3:17    But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

We need to be mindful of where we get our counsel. Do we seek the Lord and His leading? Do we spend time seeking Him? Do we hunger and thirst for His guidance in our life? God’s word is a deep and wide ocean of wisdom and knowledge by which we gain understanding and godly counsel. Time and busyness take their toll on the hearts and minds of those who don’t intentionally set aside time for the single purpose of refreshing their heart, soul, and mind in God’s word. The counsel of the world will flood your heart and mind because there is nothing else to combat this flow other than the word of God.

Un-godly counsel – give no thought to God’s word today because you are too busy and tired and pre-occupied and am good enough with where you are spiritually.

Godly counsel – desire and seek to be in His word each day wanting to be led by God for His purpose, honor, and glory

91. Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord,

Judges 13:1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”

Then the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.’”

Then Manoah prayed to the Lord: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.” God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. The woman hurried to tell her husband, “He’s here! The man who appeared to me the other day!” Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, “Are you the man who talked to my wife?” “I am,” he said. So Manoah asked him, “When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule that governs the boy’s life and work?” The angel of the Lord answered, “Your wife must do all that I have told her. She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.” Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you.” The angel of the Lord replied, “Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the Lord.) Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?” He replied, “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.” Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord. And the Lord did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord. “We are doomed to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen God!” But his wife answered, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this.” The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Another time in history when the Israelites fell away and were given into the hands of oppressors. This time for forty years. Forty years!! Can you imagine the change in their way of life? They were living in blessings from God and chose to disregard Him. They chose to do what seemed right in their own eyes. They chose to walk down paths apart from God. They chose to stop seeking to do that which pleased Him and honored Him.

Our lives are directly influenced by the choices we make. If we choose to spend time for our own self-interest (apart from God) the culture we live in will dictate and influence our choices. How does this happen? How does this choice even find a place in our minds?

Do you ever find yourself neglecting God’s word for a day? Do you ever find yourself at the end of the day where you have not sought out God leading, not sought to see His how you might serve Him, honor Him, worship Him, glorify Him, follow Him, obey Him? This path always starts with that first day of neglect and complacency. Can you imagine what it would be like if God gave you over to 40 years of oppression of trials and troubles so overwhelming that everyday life was a burden because you chose to live your life apart from Him?

Examine your life. Examine how much time you spend in His word, not to just read it, but with a heart, soul and mind desire to learn of Him and how to honor Him through obedience, reliance, and humble submission. Leave no room for self-interests, cultural influences, and satan to guide you on a path apart from God.

69. “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.”

Joshua 5:6 For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord; the Lord swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give to us,

Numbers 14:32-34     But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.  And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness.  According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’

Psalms 95:10-11    For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.”  Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”

Hebrews 3:11    As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”

Hebrews 3:18-19   And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?  So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Matthew 11:28-29     Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Wandering in the wilderness for forty years seems like a severe punishment in todays standards. We would look at this and call it harsh, unreasonable, and definitely not from a loving God. We are good at that, putting our human twist onto God’s work. We exalt our limited wisdom, understanding, and knowledge of God. In this exaltation of self knowledge and understanding we are actually saying “If I were God” and would do things differently.

The key take away from these verses is to intentionally choose to walk by faith, believing in and walking in obedience to God. Without this intentional choice to honor and serve God you will certainly go astray in your heart. Without His word in your daily life you will go astray in your heart. Keep it close, cherish it, and seek to know how to honor and serve Him more and more each day.

38. The refining process – Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial

Numbers 2:7 For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.”

Job 23:10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my

Psalms 139:1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.

Zachariah 14:9 And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”

1 Peter 1:6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

Revelation 3:19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

God knows our life inside out, what we think, what we do, where we go and He still loves us. In this love, He will not condone sin. He will not approve of that which is in our life that does not honor and glorify Him. He will not bless our sin. He will not lead us into sin.

He will test us. He will reprove our sin. He will expose our sin. He will discipline us for sin. He will convict our soul of sin. He will refine us. He will guide us. He will lead us to a choice of repentance and stand at our heart’s door ready to take us in His loving arms.

Do we see “testing”, “refining”, and “discipline” from God as a blessing? Can we recognize His calling us out of our sin? Are we able to hear His calling? If we hear His calling are we willing to open the door of our heart, soul, and mind and invite Him in? Do we live with anticipation of conviction, refining, confession, and forgiveness?

God has called us to holy humbleness service. This side of eternity our life is a blessed refining process resulting in praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

If we choose to be complacent in our walk with Him and neglect time in His word seeking knowledge and understanding, how are we to escape punishment and curse? Loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind is an intentional commitment that fully wants only to honor and glorify God in all that is thought, said, and done. This intentional commitment lives with anticipation of wanting and being refined. David said it like this: Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

25. We must not put Christ to the test

Numbers 14:20 Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, according to your word. But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.

Malachi 3:15    And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’”

Matthew 4:7    Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

1 Corinthians 10:9     We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents,

Hebrews 3:17-18    And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?  And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?

Deuteronomy 1:31-35    and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’  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.  “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,

I saw a quote yesterday that said: “You may think you can live fine without Christ, but you can not afford to die without Him.” Tozer had some thoughts on how we become what we love at the expense of following God. “We are all becoming something. We have moved from what we were to what we are, and are now moving to what we will be. Our character is not solid but fluid and always moving toward what we are becoming. The perturbing thought is not that we are becoming, but what we are becoming; not that we are moving but what we are moving toward. We are never moving horizontal, we are either moving ascending or descending. We are either moving toward the worse or the better. Not only are we all in the process of becoming, but we are also becoming what we love, the sum of this love changes, molds, shapes, and transforms us. This Love is prophetic of our future. It tells us what we shall be and predicts accurately our eternal destiny.”

God’s promises mean very little if they are not believed. God’s word will never be active in our life if it is not loved. God’s warnings of complacency and neglect will not lead to repentance if the heart and soul are walking in a different direction away from God and headlong into the way of the world.

Be mindful of your path and direction of your love.

Refused to obey Him and thrust Him aside

Exodus 17:1 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Psalms 95:8     do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,

Hebrews 3:8-9     do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,  where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.

Exodus 34:9    And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

Deuteronomy 31:17    Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’

Acts 7:37-39    This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’  This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us.  Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt,

“Is the Lord among us or not?” “Our fathers refused to obey Him, but thrust Him aside, and in their hearts, they turned to Egypt.” The grumbling and doubting seem to be a pattern. I don’t think it is any different now than it was back then. Desiring, seeking, relying on, clinging to, and trusting in God is rejected at the heart, mind, and soul level. We are not immune to this type of thinking, however, we can take these thoughts captive and cast them out as soon as they pop into our head. We can choose not to thrust Him aside. We can choose not to live like He does not exist.

How are we to do this? We need to keep God’s word in our heart and mind. We need to intentionally change our ways according to His word and how the Holy Spirit leads us. We need to change our way of thinking about self first and desire to do whatever it is He has planned for us. We need to change from the way we live for self and change to living for God, seeking Him, wanting to honor and obey Him.

Commit to reading His word each day. Listen to what His word says to your heart and mind. Talk to God often. Walk in faith, trusting Him and His precious promises.

1. Written with the finger of God / To be kept as a sign against rebels

Exodus 16:31 Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.” As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)

Exodus 25:16     And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you.

Exodus 25:21     And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you

Exodus 30:6   And you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is above the testimony, where I will meet with you.

Exodus 31:18    And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

Exodus 38:21    These are the records of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were recorded at the commandment of Moses,

Exodus 40:20     He took the testimony and put it into the ark, and put the poles on the ark and set the mercy seat above on the ark.

Numbers 1:53     But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the people of Israel. And the Levites shall keep guard over the tabernacle of the testimony.”

Numbers 17:10    And the LORD said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.”

Put into the are the testimony that I give you. The tablets, an omer of manna, and the staff. These were to be reminders of God’s mighty power displayed before all of Egypt and Israel. God’s provision for 40 years, and God’s commandments. These were a constant reminder before the people and were declared by God as a testimony to His chosen. They were to keep people from forgetting all that God had done and by application what He can do.

I think about the Bible, His written word, given to us with much more testimony about Him, His love for us, His plan for us, His expectations of us, His desire for us, His provision for us, and eternity. Isn’t amazing how He reaches out to His creation with such caring love. Isn’t it awesome that He not only gave his written word to us but also as it is written in

Do not allow complacent neglect to have any part of your heart, mind, and soul. Be intentional in your full commitment to humbly serve, honor, glorify, worship, follow, and obey Him.

We have been given a great testimony to believe and proclaim.

He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart

“For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Exodus 15:22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”

Exodus 16:4    Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.

Deuteronomy 8:2    And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

Deuteronomy 8:16    who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.

Judges 2:22     in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the LORD as their fathers did, or not.”

Psalms 66:10     For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.

Proverbs 17:3    The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts.

Jeremiah 9:7    Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and test them,

1 Peter 1:6-7     In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,  so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Do you ever wonder why we face trials and trouble this side of eternity? Sometimes it is because of the consequences of others, sometimes consequences of our own doing, but in all things, it is allowed by God. God can do this to test our faith (genuineness), to refine us, to humble us, to teach us, to see if we will remain true, and to allow us to see what is in our heart.

Being tested is good for us. When we have been through a trial we can be vengeful, hateful, hurtful, prideful…. or we learn to be humble, hopeful, reliant, and thankful to God. We find what He means when He speaks of never leaving or forsaking us, for being our refuge, our strength, our shelter, our road and fortress, our hope and peace.

It is good to be found worthy of being tested and refined.