Ever been in trouble? Has anyone ever stepped up to your defense when you were in trouble and gotten you off the hook? It's a amazing thing when that happens I assure you.
When I was in 8th grade I had to take a semester of Home Economics. It's not as bad as it may sound for any of you guys out there reading this. For one thing there are often many more girls in that kind of class than there are guys, so already it's a good day to go to class. Anyway, the teacher ended up being one of my absolute favorite teachers that I have ever had, but early on our class gave her a bit of a hard time. In fact there was a group of guys that talked and were at times rude and disrespectful to her. One day she decided that she had had enough of it and gave a list of names to our coach to let him handle it. The way that the coach decided he needed/wanted to handle this was to give out licks to everyone whose name was on that list.
So after athletics once day he kept everyone from that list out on the football field and told them what was going to happen. As you may be able to tell from my knowledge of this, my name was on the list. The problem however is that all I ever did in that class was to talk. I wasn't rude or disrespectful, I just talked--a lot it seems. So, the other guys knew this and they quickly came to my defense with the coach. They informed him that all I did was to talk and that I wasn't one of the ones acting up. Therefore the coach let me go. I was very grateful to those guys I can tell you that much.
Well today we read Numbers 14:10-24. It seems that the Israelites are testing God's nerves. They have once again gone against what he has told them. In this case they were set to enter the Promised Land and defeat their enemies as God had promised them. But as is often the case they had trust issues. They sent in 12 spies to scope out the land, and when they returned the reports of 10 of these guys said that there was no way they could conquer the land, the people already there were too big and strong for them. Only two of the spies said it could be done, because they knew that if God said it was theirs then it was going to be theirs. Yet the people were ready to stone these men; God says he is just going to punish them all (all but the two and Moses that is) by wiping them out.
At this point Moses, who was considered God's friend, steps in and talks God down. He recalls God's promises to them and his forgiveness. He is able to get God to change his mind and not destroy his people. They were still punished by not being allowed to enter the Promised Land, but God listened to Moses and the people found a compassionate friend who was on their side.
Now we flash forward to our own lives. We have sinned and gone against God. Yet, Jesus stands there for us, as Moses did for the Israelites, and calls on God to show His faithfulness to us and his mercy. He asks Him to forgive as he has been since we first came to know him. We have one who stands up for us when we are in trouble, even when we are guilty. Now and forever. Peace and Love y'all.
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