11.26.2008

Numbers 20: Three out of Four... not quite enough...

Step 1: You have a problem.
Step 2: You go to God for help.
Step 3: God gives you directions.
Step 4: You do what God says.

Seems like a good way to do things, right? But that's not what Moses and Aaron did in Numbers 20. They got the first three steps, but then instead of doing what God said, Moses did something else. He also lost his temper and yelled at the people of Israel. Because he didn't honor God in front of the people, Moses wasn't able to go into the promised land.

It seems crazy to me that Moses went to God for help, but then when he got back to the problem he didn't do what he was told. But I guess I kind of do that sometimes. Perhaps I don't lose my temper, but I often go to God for help and then once I get back in whatever situation might be the problem, I forget what He told me or showed me. And that's just stupid, like looking in a mirror and going away and forgetting what I look like. Check out James 1:22-25:

22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

So let's not just hear what God has to say to us. Let's do it. What has He been saying to you?

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