Casting Pearls- Are we crossing into the Promised Land?

In Joshua 3:2-5, the people of Israel were about to cross over the river Jordan into the Promised Land. This was the land promised some time before to Abraham as his descendants. This land had been promised to them some years before and they had just spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness ( desert ) before arriving there. All the people who had come out of Egypt with them had died off except Joshua and Caleb. 

Moses himself was not allowed by God to enter the Promised Land. He had sinned against God and his punishment for it was not being allowed to go into the promised land with the rest of Israel. Joshua had replaced Moses as the Leader of Israel as they entered the Promised Land. In verse 2 Joshua had led the people of Israel to the edge of the Jordan River (which at the time was at almost flood stage) and they had camped there three days. The leaders of each tribe of Israel went throughout the people saying to follow the Ark of the Covenant, being carried by the Priests, and they would see where to go, the Bible narrates in verse 3. 

This is another shadow, or type, of how we should follow our God and know which way He would have us go. God wants us to keep our eyes on Him and His Word so we will know the correct way to go. It is only by following behind Him like a sheep does with a shepherd that we can find the way He would have us go. It is only by reading God’s Word that we can hear from God and know the direction He would have us go.

Later in verse 4 we read about the warnings they received from their tribes leaders. They were warned to stay behind the Ark of the Covenant at least two thousand cubits, that they might know the way they should turn and go before they get there, because they had never gone that way before. Though God wants us to follow Him, He wants us to follow with enough room between Him and us that we might know the direction in which He wishes us to turn, before we get there.God also wanted them to be far enough back that they could clearly see Him clear the obstacles out of their way and give God the glory for it .

As God’s children we need His Word and the leaders He provides for us to clearly see the way He would have us go. In the next chapter the Lord shows the people and us that Joshua is His chosen Leader of Israel to replace Moses. He stops the flooding river from flowing and lets all Israel pass across on dry land. There are times in life that we wonder if God is going to work in our case. If God wants us to go there, he will make a way. All we need do is, as the Israelites, Stay back and watch until God opens the door for us.

The key to being the kind of Christian Jesus wants is to be willing to praise God even as we sit and wait for Him to open the door. God works at two speeds. Slowly and suddenly. God slowly opens the door in Hid time not in ours, so it appears that God is not working in our case. Everything seems to go so slowly, then suddenly the door opens. We wait and wait for something to happen, then suddenly it does. So God works at two speeds. 

Casting Pearls- Are you following or leading?

In Joshua 3:2-5, the people of Israel were about to cross over the river Jordan into the Promised Land. This was the land promised some time before to Abraham as his descendants. This land had been promised to them some years before and they had just spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness ( desert ) before arriving there. All the people who had come out of Egypt with them had died off except Joshua and Caleb. 

Moses himself was not allowed by God to enter the Promised Land. He had sinned against God and his punishment for it was not being allowed to go into the promised land with the rest of Israel. Joshua had replaced Moses as the Leader of Israel as they entered the Promised Land. In verse 2 Joshua had led the people of Israel to the edge of the Jordan River (which at the time was at almost flood stage) and they had camped there three days. The leaders of each tribe of Israel went throughout the people saying to follow the Ark of the Covenant, being carried by the Priests, and they would see where to go, the Bible narrates in verse 3. 

This is another shadow, or type, of how we should follow our God and know which way He would have us go. God wants us to keep our eyes on Him and His Word so we will know the correct way to go. It is only by following behind Him like a sheep does with a shepherd that we can find the way He would have us go. It is only by reading God’s Word that we can hear from God and know the direction He would have us go.

Later in verse 4 we read about the warnings they received from their tribes leaders. They were warned to stay behind the Ark of the Covenant at least two thousand cubits, that they might know the way they should turn and go before they get there, because they had never gone that way before. Though God wants us to follow Him, He wants us to follow with enough room between Him and us that we might know the direction in which He wishes us to turn, before we get there.God also wanted them to be far enough back that they could clearly see Him clear the obstacles out of their way and give God the glory for it .

As God’s children we need His Word and the leaders He provides for us to clearly see the way He would have us go. In the next chapter the Lord shows the people and us that Joshua is His chosen Leader of Israel to replace Moses. He stops the flooding river from flowing and lets all Israel pass across on dry land. There are times in life that we wonder if God is going to work in our case. If God wants us to go there, he will make a way. All we need do is, as the Israelites, Stay back and watch until God opens the door for us.

The key to being the kind of Christian Jesus wants is to be willing to praise God even as we sit and wait for Him to open the door. God works at two speeds. Slowly and suddenly. God slowly opens the door in Hid time not in ours, so it appears that God is not working in our case. Everything seems to go so slowly, then suddenly the door opens. We wait and wait for something to happen, then suddenly it does. So God works at two speeds. 

Casting Pearls- Are we crucifying Christ again?

The people of Israel had been murmuring and complaining to Moses all along, they had ignored the miracles God had already done for them, they chose to focus on the problems of the here and now rather than think of all God had done for them up to this point. All of us are guilty of the same thing, we think only of where we are right now, not where we have been. We ignore the things God has done before in our lives and focus on where we are. 

As the old quote goes, to have a testimony, you must first go through a test. People are proud to tell others what they have gone through, they just don’t think of witnessing to others when they are going through the test. God allows us to go through troubles and tests so we will learn and so we will have a reason to be able to witness to others. The question is often asked, why does god allow these terrible things? This is often the reason why. 

In Exodus 17:1-7 The people of Israel had been in the desert for only days, when they began to run out of water for themselves and their livestock. they complained to Moses that he and God had only brought them out of Egypt and into the desert to let them die of thirst.  Moses prayed to God and he received an answer to go and take with him the Elders of Israel and go to the rock at Horeb. When you get there, ‘strike the rock’ and water will come out for you and the Children of Israel. Moses did as the Lord had told him and water did come from the rock to quench the thirst of all Israel. 

The rock is a shadow, or type, of Christ to show the Israelites and the Gentiles later, that Christ must be struck and from him living waters will flow. Christ was struck once for all men, past and present, who believe on Him. It says in 1 Corinthians 10:4, ‘and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ.’ 

For many years they wandered around that desert never allowed to enter the promised land that God had promised to them. Why did they just wander? God kept them in the desert wandering making a 11 day long trip into one that lasted 40 Years, so that God could attempt to teach them to rely on Him for the needs they had. Some years after their wandering had begun, Israel had again run out of water, Mirriam, the sister of Moses had just died, and buried in the desert there. Moses was tired and upset at the loss of his sister, yet even then the burden of leading Israel continued. The people rose up in opposition to Moses and his brother Aaron who God had appointed the High Priest of the people. They were out of water again and instead of calling out to God or asking Aaron to ask God for water, they chose to rise up against Moses. 

The people of Israel said the same things again, and murmured against God and Moses. They complained that Moses and God had brought them into the desert to leave them without water and let them die. Moses then asked God for them to provide water for them. God told Moses to bringing his rod with him , gather the congregation together along with his brother Aaron in front of the rock at that place and ‘speak to it’ and water will flow out for all the people to drink. 

Being tired and aggravated with the peoples murmuring against him God and even his brother Aaron, Moses was a bit angry when he gathered the people together there. On top of all that, he had recently experienced great loss in his sister Miriam dying. Moses said to the people, when he gathered them together, in Numbers 20: 6-13, that they were ‘rebels’ and did they want God to provide them water, well here it is, and struck the rock twice with his rod and water came out. 

The Lord then spoke to Moses and said he was  to speak to the rock, not strike it, Because of his disobedience he would lead the people to the Promised Land but would not be allowed to enter it himself. The Lord wanted Moses to let Him show His power to the Children of Israel, by just speaking to the rock and not by striking it as Moses did.

The Rock here is also a shadow of Christ. It also flows the living water for the Children of Israel, the difference here is that God wanted to show it did not need to be struck as before. Christ was struck down once for ALL sin, both what happened before, and what is yet to happen. We don’t need more forgiveness, we already have it. The Rock represents Christ's body and as the Bible says it was broken once for all men. By striking it again, he was striking the body of Christ again, and we do the same thing as WE are the body of Christ in this world. 

Whenever Christians are persecuted, whenever Christians are slandered, whenever Christians are even chastised by the supposed  preachers of the Gospel without good reason, when we beat ourselves up for a sin that has already been confessed to God, the world is crucifying Christ again. The devil takes joy in making Christ suffer again, but because God knows all things and has already forgiven all things, there is nothing Satan can do that Christ has not already paid the price for. 
                 This is not an excuse to be able to go out and sin, Christians should feel the urging of the Holy Spirit not to do anything that is a sin and if we find ourselves in a situation that is questionable, we should ask the Lord for guidance.  He will reveal to us which way we should go. Trust in the Lord, and place all your plans before Him. 

Casting Pearls - Manna or Mammon?

                          If we look in the fifteenth chapter of Exodus we will find the Children of Israel contending with Moses over provision for food then water while they were in the desert after leaving the bondage they were in while in Egypt. They conveniently forgot all that God had done for them up to that point, the ten plagues, the dividing of the waters of the red sea, they seemed to think God had done all this just to turn around and forget them. God brought them out of Egypt to take them to the promised land and prosper them. Through their actions, and lack of belief, they turned an eleven day journey, as most people could have done it, into one that took them forty years.
                          Forty years was what was accepted at the time as what made up the normal generation. I believe in part God wanted the Children of Israel to take that long so the generation that entered the Promised Land would be raised to depend on God for their provision each day. Due to the Children of Israel's doubts and fears when they arrived at the Promised land, they were prevented from going in, and had to wander in the desert forty more years. Very few of the people were left who even remembered the exile in Egypt by that time. In fact Moses himself would die before entering the Promised Land, due to his getting angry and not waiting for God.
                         Back to chapter 15, we find the Children of Israel having just come from the miracle of God parting the Red sea for them to cross, and its closing back up to destroy the army of Pharaoh. The people rejoiced at what God had done for them in one breath, and then turned against Moses and God with the next. They were thankful for what God had provided, yet almost immediately they began to think only of themselves and want Moses and God to provide food and water for them in the desert. God heard the Children of Israel murmuring and told Moses that he would provide them meat to eat in the evening, and bread in the morning.
                          That evening quail covered the camp, and the people had quail for the evening meal, and the next morning, after the dew had dried up a 'round thing' was left covering the ground which looked reminiscent of coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. The people of Israel called the bread, Manna and as instructed by God and Moses, they were to gather up only what they needed for the day, and no more. This was a test from God, to see if their own greed and laziness would cause them to not follow His directions. The people who gathered more than they were supposed to and tried to save it up for the next day found it going bad and having worms in it.
                        This was to teach the Children of Israel that God would provide for them each day the needs they had for food, and any attempt they made to hoard up more, would only result in loss.  People are in much the same position today. We try to hoard up things for our future, and only watch whatever we have wasting away by the world we live in.
                        I recently learned that retirement accounts were being taken over by the governments of Poland and Greece, and the same thing was being discussed here in America. The Governments were saying that the money was only given to us to use for a time and all money ultimately belonged to them. We try to pass on things to the next generation, but things and money are nothing but creations of man and have no real value except what we put on them. Life and memories and knowledge are the only things we can really pass on to the next generation.
                       The Israelites continued to murmur against Moses and God in spite of God's provision and that is ultimately why an eleven day journey took eighty years total. We should do our best not to be as hard headed as the Children of Israel, and learn before we waste our entire lives trying to hoard and pass on the fleeting things of this world. God says to trust Him to provide your needs our faith in God's provision, will be counted for us as righteousness, as the Bible says about Abraham in Romans 4:3. The more we murmur against the Lord and fight His control and provision for our lives, the longer we will wander in the desert, or wilderness of our lives.