Topic: Lean Not On Your Wisdom [October 15, 2016]
Text: Deuteronomy 1:19-33
Key Verse: “The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes” (Deuteronomy 1:30).
The Bible admits that the Sinai Peninsula through which the children of Israel journeyed on their way to the Promised Land was “great and terrible” (v. 19). It was foreboding; yet God asked them to move on and pass through it to possess the land before them, because He set up special escape plan for them. Yet these descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did not listen to God. Rather, they devised an arrangement to first send spies to check on the land.
This was a rebellion against God’s command to immediately take the land. They had no faith in a God who had worked out everything for their conquest and instructed them to: “go up and possess it… [and] fear not, neither be discouraged”. It upsets God when man underestimates His love. It is an abomination to draw up plans for our safety outside the way of God even in seemingly impossible challenges. Israel doubted God’s assurances, even after He expressed His awareness of the wild conditions of the Sinai wilderness. They failed to juxtapose His awesome Omnipotence with their puny circumstances.
They didn’t recall the great miracles He did to deliver them from centuries of bondage in Egypt; how through His mighty powers He divided the raging Red Sea to enable them escape the fearsome army of Pharaoh, and also commanded the waters to come back to drown the Egyptian chariots. How about the pillars of clouds and fire that guided them as they travelled on foot day and night? Jesus assures believers that He is with them in the midst of their troubles.
If we believe He is playing the part of a Father and Master, we ought to play ours too by having faith in Him in all circumstances. Any relationship is a two-way affair which can only be deepened if each party is faithful to the ground rules of trust. As God is faithful to His, so must we be committed to ours.
Thought for the day: The arm of flesh will not suffice in the face of life’s challenges.
Bible Reading in one Year: Deuteronomy 1:19-33
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
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