MARCH 17 "BRING YOUR CASE BEFORE GOD"

  Zelophehad's daughters bring their grievance before Moses, their leader and you notice Moses doesn't send them away and accuse them of being just a bunch of malcontents, especially, they being women. "Rights, you have no rights, get out of here!" Moses did not pretend to be concerned and then come back with his own answer, as if he had prayed about it. Moses actually does bring their grievance before God and interestingly, God sides with the Zelophehad's daughters; in essence, God says, "they're right!" What if the daughters of Zelophehad had not brought their grievance to Moses; and worse, what if Moses had not actually gone before God with their grievance? We see in this story that God ids willing to let a lot of things slip by, unless someone speaks up. There's a fine line between fighting and contending for your rights and just being a malcontent and it is up to you and I, to discern between the two. Jabez also cries out to God, "oh Lord that you would bless me and enlarge my territory" and The Lord granted him his request. Secondly we see a leader who is willing to listen to his people, regardless of their gender; and petition God on their behalf and seek God for the best interest of the people, a true leader. This story also allows us to see what God is like and He is quite different than many portray Him to be. He is not this stoic enigma unmoved by the plight of man and indifferent. God, listens to reason. In Isaiah we have the scripture, "Come now let us reason together". If you cannot be bothered to petition God, ever, for your needs, what you sense are your rights, blessing and promises, then don't be surprised if you get nothing. "You have not because you ask not". Or....when you ask, you ask not believing that you will receive anything that you ask for. The Zelophehad's daughters are very, very close from missing out on a huge blessing and it's not Moses, nor even God, that is to credit for their getting what they received, we can only look back at this story and credit these brave, courageous women, for coming to Moses, in essence, coming to God, and bringing their petitions before him and trusting in a just God and a just leader, to do them right, and it pays off tremendously and a lesson for all of us to learn! Never be afraid, to petition God for your needs or what you think is rightfully yours!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NOVEMBER 6 "DOES GOD STILL DO MIRACLES?"

 The Psalmist writes, "who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord!" I dare say, there are some reading this blog that might challenge that!"  They would say, "list them, I'm hard pressed to think of one! How'' your miracle life? Miracles go hand in hand with opportunity. We have our lives so structured and we don't venture out in faith, we keep it safe. Well then don't complain you have no miracles. Peter had to step out of the boat to experience a miracle, but don't forget there was a handful of other disciples that stayed in the boat, safe and experienced no miracle! You can have it both ways.  Christians who venture, in faith, are the ones that have the "lists of miracles" to write about.   "Does God still do miracles? In your intellect you say, "yes of course", but in your heart what do you say? God does miracle, yes! Does He do miracles for you? Do you encourage others to believe in miracles and now you need
Read more

FEBRUARY 8 "ABANDONED IN MY TIME OF NEED"

   This may end up being one of the greater indictments against The Church of Jesus Christ at our judgement; that we abandoned our brothers and sisters in their most dire time of need. In our reading today, the Psalmist eludes to a time of great anguish in his life and because of this his strength is failing; he then goes on to say concerning his friends, "I am a dread to my friends....I am forgotten by them". Unfortunately, it is when we are not at our best that our brothers and sisters in Christ seem to get turned off by us and often abandon us when we need them the most! Why is that? Is it because of selfish reasons, after all, who doesn't want to hang around upbeat people full of joy and victory, but are there not times that we need to also grieve with those that are grieving?! Another reason is their weakness probably turns us off, "why are you even struggling with this ....what's wrong with you!!?" Thence, we're turned off and leave them to struggl
Read more

OCTOBER 17 "DON'T THROW IN THE TOWEL YET"

    "Don't throw in the towel yet" ....This idiom comes from the world of boxing, when a boxer's manager or coach throws the white towel into the ring, signaling that his boxer is done, he can fight no more. We should have this idiom up on our fridges, up on the mirror in our bathroom or we could simply read the Word of God and get it there. "It will be a time of trouble for my people, yet in the end they will be saved." How important it is to know that. If we can see the goal in sight, it re-invigorates us to keep pushing forward. We've all heard the story of the world distance swimmer that stopped short of the beach because it was hidden by the clouds and fog. Had she seen the shore was so close in sight, she would have pressed on, but exhausted and discouraged, not be able to see the shore, she gave up. Praise be to you, who does not need the shore in sight to keep pressing on, but for the rest of us, we do. Hold on there are better days ahead. As I m
Read more