Remember God’s Promises

The Israelites found out what happens when we don’t allow God to be bigger than everything else, we fight against God, and when we simply forget about God.  They were promised a beautiful land where they could settle down and live.  Instead, their rebellion landed them in a desert wilderness for forty years.

"Because your men explored the land for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years--a year for each day, suffering the consequences of your sins. Then you will discover what it is like to have Me for an enemy.' I, the LORD, have spoken! I will certainly do these things to every member of the community who has conspired against Me. They will be destroyed here in this wilderness, and here they will die!" (Numbers 14:34-35 NLT)

I can only imagine the feeling that would have come over them as they finally realized the implications of their actions.  Warnings from God had gone ignored.  Promises from God were not enough.  Now, they were coming face to face with the reality: God is God.  Even in the midst of this terrifying revelation, God still provides them hope for the future.

“You said your children would be carried off as plunder. Well, I will bring them safely into the land, and they will enjoy what you have despised. But as for you, you will drop dead in this wilderness. And your children will be like shepherds, wandering in the wilderness for forty years. In this way, they will pay for your faithlessness, until the last of you lies dead in the wilderness.” (Numbers 14:31-33 NLT)

They would not get to go into the beautiful land, but their children will.  They will enjoy all the benefits and blessings that come from walking together with God…if they want.  The parents won’t be able to change their own judgement, but they still have hope with their children.  They can help their children do better than they did themselves.  They can help their children see God as God.  They can help their children respect God as LORD.  They can help their children understand the design, the intent, and even more details of the very mind of God.  They can help their children learn that God loves them and wants to walk with them.  They can help their children learn that, even though they failed, their children can enjoy all the benefits and blessings that come with walking together with God.  They can help their children love God, because love is not something we feel – it is something we learn to do.

I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected--even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject Me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love Me and obey My commands. (Exodus 20:5-6 NLT)

The Israelites in that generation were not being warned about sin affecting children and grandchildren to the fourth generation.  They were living it.  Children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even great-great-grandchildren were living out in the desert for forty years – paying the price for their parent’s sins.  No, this part of the command was not a warning as much as it was an explanation and a promise.  Yes, they were stuck in the desert with their parents these forty years.  But, God has great blessings in store for them when they leave their parents’ path and walk together with God.  God promised them to lavish unfailing love on them for much, much longer than their stay in the desert.

So, how about you?  Do you relate more with the parents, who fought against God, or the children, who are learning from their parents’ mistakes?  Do you see how God’s love, promises, and blessings are available to you?  Which path do you choose?

The LORD, Yahweh, Jehovah (יהוה)

"You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. (Exodus 20:4-5a NLT)

The word “Elohim” (God) is enough to make us pause and consider the incomparable magnitude of what can be learned about our God.  (Remember, the word for our one God is written in the plural.)  The problem, though, is that the same word is used to talk about many, false gods that were vying for the attention of our Israelite nation.  No, they would need to have a way to identify their one, majestic God rather than those other puny false ones.  God gave them just such an identity.  God told them The Name.

Now tell them this: 'As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say. You will all drop dead in this wilderness! Because you complained against Me, every one of you who is twenty years old or older and was included in the registration will die. You will not enter and occupy the land I swore to give you. The only exceptions will be Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. (Numbers 14:28-30 NLT)

Whenever you come across the word LORD in your Old Testament Scriptures, the Hebrew word behind that English translation is always the same.  In order to understand the word, we need to review just a little bit of Hebrew.

When Hebrew was originally written down, they did not write down any vowel sounds.  They only had letters for the consonants.  When a rabbi or preacher would read the Scriptures, he would fill in the vowel sounds from the memory of listening to others read the same Scriptures.  The consonants were the written cues.  The full word was passed down verbally.

Over time, they began making little markings on the page to remind themselves how to pronounce the word.  In other words, these little marks indicated the vowels.  These little marks are called diacritic marks.  These diacritic marks were included in the text for every word except one: The Name of God.  That’s because they had such high respect for God’s name that they didn’t even want to pronounce it wrong.

"You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse His name. (Exodus 20:7 NLT)

As a result, they didn’t pronounce it at all.  When they came to the word, they would simply say “The Name.”  All that was passed down on paper, then, were the consonants: YHWH.  Sometimes, people will fill in the vowels for this word to pronounce it, “Yahweh.”  Others will fill in different vowels to pronounce it, “Jehovah.”  They are all the same Hebrew word.

How about you?  Do you respect God, and God’s Name?  Do you respect God so much that you are careful to even pronounce it correctly?  How do you show respect for God?

God (אלהים)

When we left the Israelites last week, they had just spied out the Promised Land and came back frightened.  Out of the twelve spies, only Joshua and Caleb thought that they should go in and take the land as God had instructed them.  The other ten were terrified and incited the rest of the Israelites to fear as well.  So, God sent them back into the wilderness.
Tomorrow you must set out for the wilderness..." (Numbers 14:25 NLT)
It seems strange to say it this way, but their fear drove them to rebellion.  God said that they were being given the land.  God told them to go in and take the land.  God said that God would deliver the land into their hands.  Fear told them not to go.  So, they listened to fear and turned their backs on God.  They didn’t believe that God was big enough for the task at hand.  We can end up doing the same.
Then God gave the people all these instructions: "I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. "You must not have any other god but Me. (Exodus 20:1-3 NLT)
It doesn’t matter WHAT we allow to be more important than God in our lives.  What matters is THAT we let something or someone be more important than God in our lives.  When we do that, we shrink God down to a size that is smaller than our problems, our relationships, or our ideologies.  We make God fit into a box that we can control, move, and put on a shelf.  The problem with this, however, is that God cannot be shrunk down.  God is God.
The Hebrew word for God throughout the Old Testament is Elohim (אלהים).  This word has made scholars scratch their heads for thousands of years.  That’s because the Old Testament consistently teaches and affirms that their is only one God and that God is one, yet the word “Elohim” is in the plural.  Our One God is somehow in the plural.  We understand this a little bit more now as we learn different aspects and attributes of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Each of these three “persons” help us understand more about God, but they do not teach us everything there is to know about God.  God is infinite.  We are not.  Whatever we have learned about God, there is still more.  I find that comforting.  That means God is bigger than any problem I face.  God is bigger than any struggles we have – even as a city, state, country,  world, or even universe.  God is God. The word Elohim, in the plural, reminds me that whatever I think God is…there is more.
How about you?  What helps you remember that God is bigger?

Remember God

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day" and the darkness "night." And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day. (Genesis 1:1-5 NLT)
Then God said, "Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth." And that is what happened. God made this space to separate the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens. God called the space "sky." And evening passed and morning came, marking the second day. (Genesis 1:6-8 NLT)
Then God said, "Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear." And that is what happened. God called the dry ground "land" and the waters "seas." And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let the land sprout with vegetation--every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came." And that is what happened. The land produced vegetation--all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. And evening passed and morning came, marking the third day. (Genesis 1:9-13 NLT)
Then God said, "Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years. Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth." And that is what happened. God made two great lights--the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And evening passed and morning came, marking the fourth day. (Genesis 1:14-19 NLT)
Then God said, "Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind." So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird--each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth." And evening passed and morning came, marking the fifth day.  (Genesis 1:20-23 NLT)
Then God said, "Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind--livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals." And that is what happened. God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:24-25 NLT)
Then God said, "Let Us make human beings in Our image, to be like Us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground." So God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground." Then God said, "Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground--everything that has life." And that is what happened. (Genesis 1:26-30 NLT)
Then God looked over all He had made, and He saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31 NLT)
#werememberGod