God's Way is the Best Way

     In the book of Numbers (Chapter 16) in the Bible, there is an incident that caught my attention.  Earlier God had called and equipped a man named Moses to be His go between to the children of Israel.  With God in charge and Moses relaying God’s words to the Israelites, the people were rescued from the bondage of slavery and began a journey to a land that God would give them.

     As they traveled, they were aware that God was traveling with them and communicating with them thru Moses. He gave instructions for a portable tabernacle.  A place for God to meet with man.  God was very precise about this tabernacle.  How it was to be built and how things would be done.  He was meticulous and incredibly detailed with His plan.  God set aside Aaron and his sons for the priesthood.  God did not give Aaron’s family an inheritance of land like the other tribes.  God gave them this gift of the priesthood as their inheritance.

    It is told that about 250 well-known men, led by three particular men, rebelled against some of these decisions and came against Moses.  These men felt that others should be priests also.  So, Moses said, “Let us see what God wants.  He told them you and your followers take censers, put fire and incense in them before the Lord. The man that the Lord chooses will be the one who is holy.” 

    So, they came, the three leaders and the 250 followers, holding their censers with fire and incense.  Aaron also was there with his censer with fire and incense.

    When they had gathered, the glory of the Lord appeared to the entire assembly.  The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.”  It was kind of like….. “Moses, you and Aaron better back up.”

   God was not pleased with the actions of the three leaders. They were not accepting of God’s directives. They were trying to make new man-made rules.

   Then, the earth opened and swallowed those three men, their families, and everything they owned.  Then fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were followers of the 3 leaders.

   Now the interesting part. The next day, the people grumbled against Moses saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people.”  These grumblers were foolish and hardheaded, or hard-hearted.

    When the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the Tent of Meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared.  Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and the Lord said to Moses, “Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.”  And they fell face down.  I guess they knew that God was serious and had had enough.

   Moses told Aaron to take his censer, put incense in it along with fire from the altar and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. He said, “Wrath has come out from the Lord; the plague has started.” So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly.  The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them.  He stood between the living and the dead and the plague stopped.  The Bible records that 14,700 people died from the plague.

   God is Holy, and all things belong to Him.  I think we tend to forget these things about almighty God.  His wisdom is above ours. When God lays out how He wants things done He has all authority to do that and He has His reasons. We would be wise to follow Him. 

   We, as a nation have set aside His guidelines, believing foolishly that we know better.  God’s view of marriage is “outdated” and cast aside.  God’s view of innocent unborn (or just born) life is not taken into consideration when the leaders in Washington make the laws that allow the destruction of innocent lives.

    People get full of themselves and think that a different plan might be better.  They want to follow their own thinking, their own plans instead of God’s directives.  The people of Moses day thought, “anyone can be a priest, we are all equal.”

    While it is true that He does love us all, equally, He is God and He gets to make the rules and lay out the pathways according to His wisdom.  No one is qualified to be a priest until God says they are qualified.

    Do I think this plague we are facing right now is because men are no longer accepting God’s guidelines?  I cannot say that for sure, but I do believe that God allows things because He loves us and wants us to find our way to Him and His paths.  I do believe He is in absolute control of all things, including viruses.

    I encourage you to pray for a heart that aligns with His, and for leaders who care about what God thinks and for laws that support what God thinks.

    If God were to tell us to put fire and incense in our censers and run into the midst of the troubles, it might sound like this.  “Go spend time at the altar on your knees, repent and be filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit, then pray hard for the lost, the broken, the sick.  Let it be a sweet fragrant incense drifting up to Me.  Then go out into your world and be salt and light.  Let those around you know that Jesus Christ is Truth and Light.

A God Who Cares

   I found a bit of encouragement in my reading of God’s word today. Since we all are in a time of much needed encouragement, I thought I might share. Maybe someone else can be encouraged.

   I read from the passage in Exodus where God comes to Moses to give him an assignment, but it was what He said to Moses about why he was getting this assignment that encouraged me.

   Exodus 2:23-25 says: Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died.  Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.  So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.  And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.

   God heard their groaning. Nothing escapes God’s notice. He acknowledged them.  So, God has a chat with Moses and He says:  Exodus 3:7  “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows."  God said about Himself, “I see, I hear, and I know." 

   In some ways this pandemic is like a cruel taskmaster. It can steal away our health, our livelihood, our freedom, our way of life, and our peace of mind. But be encouraged our God does not change.  He still sees, He still hears, and He still knows.  And He still cares about the groaning of His children.

  It is comforting to know that almighty God truly cares about us. Our God sees, our God hears and our God knows.  He hears our groaning and He acts on our behalf.

Jeremiah 29:12-13  Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

 

  I am encouraging you to have a heart to heart with the God who hears, who sees, who knows and who cares.  God Bless.

P.S.  Exodus 4:31  So the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.