Topic: Quiet Please! [Tuesday October 20, 2015]
Text: Numbers 14:1-10
Key Verse: “And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!” (Numbers 14:2).
A song writer scripted: “Quiet please, too much has already been said, just let it be and learn to listen instead, for sometimes thro’ the silence, big problems become small and if you have nothing good to say, say nothing at all”.
In our text today, the genesis of the murmurings of the children of Israel was the faithless report of the ten out of twelve spies that Moses sent out to spy out the land of Canaan. After they had told the congregation about the presence of the descendants of the Anaks in the land and frantically insisted it would be suicidal for Israel to attempt to go against the giants, the people’s heart sank. Even then, the people’s reactions worsened the situation. Whereas they could have kept quiet and urged their leader Moses to seek the intervention of God, they began to talk about their desire to die in the open wilderness. Believers must be cautious in responding to any information, however unfavourable. Rather than pass comments that may injure the faith of others, we must learn to keep quiet in desperate moments. Believers must live a life of few words, reacting to situations by absolutely trusting in the Lord. In the days we live, there are heart- rending pieces of information that fly about.
We must learn to talk less but pray more. Today, people die of heart-related challenges because of the dysfunctional information they received. People are depressed, and many are lying critically ill in hospitals nursing avoidable health crisis because of words spoken unadvisedly which they allowed to clog their minds. As believers, how we respond to unfavourable news differentiates us from unbelievers who have no trust in God. If we fret and fear the same way those who have not known Christ do, where then lies the faith we profess. Quiet please!
Thought for the day: The Lord knows the way through the wilderness; just silently follow
Bible Reading in one Year: Revelation 2 -22
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.
