Joshua 21:1-22:20
Luke 20:1-26
Psalm 89:1-13
Proverbs 13:15-16
It frustrates me when my children don't listen, when they don't obey the rules Carla and I have set for them ad nauseam, ad infinitum. It frustrates me, it angers me even more when I can't follow the rules I've set for myself. Despite all the times I've told myself things were going to be different, I miss prayer time or Bible reading in favor of something else I've chosen to do, I get frustrated with the same negative person at work for the same negative reasons, I get irritated with the inevitable inconsiderate drivers on the road...argh!
Not to take delight in someone else's misfortunes, but it is always such a relief for me to read about people whom God has forgiven, people whom I would've thought, would've had much better reason, much stronger incentive to stick to the course set before them. Peter was one - and his denial of Christ thrice, AFTER having been warned he would do so, is in my top 5 most encouraging moments in the Bible. I think I just found another one.
I had to read today's old testament reading over. I had to get this straight. Joshua has just released the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh from their vow to wage war alongside the rest of Israel till the Lord had given Israel the promised land, and sent them home east of the Jordan to the land they'd requested, "with your great wealth - with large herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze and iron, and a great quantity of clothing", and had just admonished them to "be very careful to keep the commandment and the law...to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to Him..."
...and as soon as they get home, they go and build an altar, in direct disobedience to the Lord's commands? Wow. Talk about short memories; talk about conviction - lack thereof. Talk about being able to identify with them. Because that is when I find myself most vulnerable to sinning against God - not when things are tough, not when the battle is being waged, not when resources are scarce, but when peace and prosperity are upon me, and I think that, first and foremost, I have the right and the opportunity to enjoy myself, to indulge my desires.
It is then that I need the blessing of brothers and sisters, as the rest of Israel seemed to be towards the end of the OT reading, and as Jesus was trying to be to the Pharisees - brothers and sisters who will call out my sinfulness and help guide me back onto the Lord's path. I don't yet know how the Reubenites and the others responded, but I pray I am more receptive to the brotherly support than the Pharisees were to Jesus's teaching - they rejected His guidance, they clung to their sinful ways, and they sought to preserve those ways first by attempting to discredit the Man who challenged them, then by killing Him.
Why did the Reubenites and Gadites do that? Why did the Pharisees respond that way? Why do I find myself most susceptible to sin during times of prosperity? Perhaps because it is precisely during times of prosperity that I am most likely to forget my complete and utter dependence upon the God who "is more awesome than all who surround Him", who rules "over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them...with Your strong arm You scattered your enemies"; who owns the heavens and the earth, whose arm is endowed with power.
Dear Lord, thank You that your mercy is more persistent than my sinfulness. Please teach me to always show the good judgement that wins favor, and to avoid the way of the unfaithful that leads to destruction.
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