Wednesday, 2/25/2015

““There is nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a human's mind against the Enemy. He wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them.” 

~ C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters 

NUMBERS 14, 15

The people freak out.  They begin to moan and wail and are terrified.

“If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! 3Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

They even begin to discuss stoning Aaron and Moses.  God has had enough and tells Moses that he is going to wipe them all out except for a select few.  

 11The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them? 12I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”

Moses appeals to God and begs for him to reconsider.  God honors moses however he strikes down all the men who went on the scouting mission except Caleb and Joshua.   

37The Lord said to Moses, 38“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. 39You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. 40Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. 41I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.’ ”

MARK 6:1-32

Jesus goes back to Nazareth and begins to teach in the synagogue.  He then begins to be questioned because the people know his family. They can't believe that Jesus could do all that he was doing and actually be one of them. 

4Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6He was amazed at their lack of faith.

Jesus sends out his disciples in groups of two.  

 8These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. 10Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

They then went out and preached that people should repent, they drove out demons and healed many that were sick.

JOURNAL

Fear of change and the future is a cruel taskmaster.  It is one of the ways we are continually shamed by the enemy and refuse to trust God.  When I become comfortable in my current circumstance then I tend to want to preserve it at all cost.  I then tend to rationalize that God would never want me to experience pain, suffering and or even death.  It is a lie, designed to keep me moving further and further away from God and deeper and deeper into realizing my worst fears. 

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:16-18)