January 5, 2025

Passage Read: Numbers 20-23
Meditation Verses: 21:4-7

Thought

It is not good to complain against the Lord, but Israel has done so many times. They are finally starting to get it, it seems. The Lord sends venomous snakes among them and they recognize that it is because of their sin! He doesn't take the snakes away, but He gives them a strange solution, a simple one, but it requires a level of faith. The rabble among them is dwindling and the children growing up are gaining a higher degree of faith and trust in the Lord. Those who still refuse to trust the Lord will die by the snakes.

Application

Impatience with God leads to complaining, and it is wrong for me to complain against the Lord. He is God and my life is His to do with as He pleases. He is not my servant to do my will, but I am His, to perform His will. If He wants to spend my life in the wilderness, then I need to submit to and obey Him in the wilderness, so as to honor Him as Lord. If I am faithful, He will bring me out of the wilderness in His time. I don't need to feel like He's wasting my life; I need to learn to trust and honor Him, even when things aren't going in a way I'd like them to go. He can add years to my life, so that I can enjoy years of fruitfulness as a reward for my obedience and faith. The only way my life can be wasted is if I refuse to learn from Him the lessons He has for me.