"Cucumbers, Melons, Leeks, Oh MY!"

Scripture Text: "And Moses said unto the LORD, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?" Num 11:11 (KJV)

To the Israelites - Moses was their Deliverer! He had taken them out of bondage and was leading them to the Promised Land: a land flowing with milk and honey. Yet just three days out from the captors hands, the Israelites begin to murmur and complain. They said...

"Who shall give us flesh (meat) to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes." Numbers 11: 4-6 (KJV)

Doesn't that make you wonder if that's where the old saying, "three steps forward and two steps back" came from? But isn't that like the lot of us today? God's about to do something MIGHTY in our lives and we are finally walking in His will and the way gets a little rough so we remember that things were easier in the "old ways" and decide to return to or at least long for the "old days"? What do they say... "Misery loves company"? Maybe it's not so much that the misery they love - they just love the company they kept while going through it. To be the Point man (or woman), a person of distinction for the cause of Christ, is not subject to the accolades of man. It often means going without when others have; not sleeping while others sleep away; hoping against all hope, while others just give up.

Through Moses, God told the children of Israel, “ I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.” (ref., Deuteronomy 5:6)

Friend, what does that say to you? It tells me that God had a purpose in the Israelites. It was not His design that they would be under bondage and it is not His design for you either - if you are one of His Children.

Later on in the Book of Numbers, we find the Israelites getting ready to fight the Canaanites and cast out the giants, but they refused because they saw themselves as grasshoppers. (ref., Numbers 13:33)  The Bible tells us that they wept all night long, just wanting to die - blaming God for their predicament. All they wanted to do was to go back to Egypt - which was their "house of bondage". If they had just believed God and gone into the Promised Land they would have had victory. (read entire Chapter of Numbers 14)

Let me ask you today Saint of God, "are you willing to stand 'outside' your Promised Land weeping, crying out to God how unfair your life is - maybe even deciding in your heart to return back to your Egypt, your the house of bondage... or will you be the one go the distance in faith - knowing that God is on your side? Your Victory today depends on what you decide.

Let's pray:

Father: Let me be Your Point man today - full of faith and purpose in You. I Surrender all. In Jesus' Name, Amen

 

출처 : http://inthegarden.us/devo2010/itg072010.htm