Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Cor. 15:58

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Friday, June 24, 2011

Day 6: Just My Luck

Numbers 13:25-33-- After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Isreal at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran.  They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land.  This was their report to Moses: "We entered the land you sent us to explore, an it is indeed a bountiful country--a land flowing with milk and honey.  Here is the kind of fruit it produces.

BUT the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified.  We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak!  The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hitites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country.  The Canannites live along the coast of the Medierrean Sea and along the Jordan Valley.

But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses.  "Let's go at once and take the land," he said. "We can certainly conquer it!"

But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed.  "We can't go up against them!  They are stronger than we are!"  So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: "The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there.  All the people we saw were huge.  We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak.  Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that's what they thought, too!"

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Can you imagine that type of let down? 

God's people, the Israelites, had wandered all that time. They had left everything they knew (even if it wasn't a great life, it was all they had known) to travel to this distant land that God had promised them.....

And when the scouts came back....

They couldn't go in.

Wonder how many of those thousands of people thought, "Well, that's just my luck." while stamping their feet and throwing their hands to the sky?

Apparently all of them, save Caleb, since they had to wander 40 years for their attitudes.

Now, I don't know about you, but I'm really hoping God doesn't punish me that way.

Who hasn't said, "Well, that's just my luck!"  Something goes wrong... we break a nail..... the car tears up right before a vacation... it rains on the wedding day... something... it's just my luck!

Tonight, I was so excited for the girls to go to bed because it's been a long day..... not a bad day, but a long day.  I got on here and was writing some posts (something I LOVE to do) and what happened?  My head started to pound. 

And I thought, "Man, that's just my luck! I wait all day for this, and now I have a headache."

Not nearly as bad as what the Israelites went through, but still... the sentiment was the same. 

Not everything in live is going to be rosey.  Sometimes stumbling blocks stand in our way either physically or spiritually.  Our goal is to push past those and focus on God and what we are doing for him.  And also his promises for us. 

Do you ever say that?  "Man, that's JUST my luck!"?  You aren't alone.  We just have to remember that even a slight inconvience or a big mountain (or army in the Israelites case) is no match for God.  Lets trust in Him. :)

God bless you :)

Kelly

Beholding Glory
(http://www.beholdingglory.com/ )

5 comments:

  1. I love how Caleb and Joshua could see past the giants and see how great the land was- we so often get stuck staring at the giants.

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  2. Hi Kelly
    Great post.
    God bless
    Tracy

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  3. Thanks for taking the time to comment :) I appreciate it!

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  4. Ouch, yes...who of us haven't complained. I so want less of me and more of God. Less of what I want and more of accepting God's plan. I'd like to go down in God's history books as a Calab--well, a Calabina!

    Blessings,
    Pamela

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  5. Lol Pamela. I think it's human to complain. We have to watch it, though. I don't want to be remembered as a 'complainer'.

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