Tag Archives: God’s Plan

I’m Nothing Special

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Today’s Devotion: Numbers 27

Moses gets ready to pass the baton. We have been with Moses since Genesis. Not only a long life, but a lot for us to learn from this man of God and today, in Numbers 27, is no exception. I love Numbers 27: 15-17, “Moses said to the LORD, ‘May the LORD, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community 17 to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.'”

Joshua is to be the successor of Moses. After Moses lays down the work, Joshua will pick it up. In one sense he was the most unlikely one to succeed Moses. Do you know why? He was an average man. No one went around saying that Joshua had great potential, great leadership ability and all that sort of thing. Apparently Joshua didn’t have that. He was an ordinary individual. Joshua reveals what God can do with an ordinary man.

If you’re like me, I don’t feel like I’m anything special. You hear about the greatness of Marie Curie, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Billy Graham, etc, etc, etc… But throughout the bible God uses ordinary men to do His great work and I’m only to assume the greatest people in history probably didn’t see themselves as anything special either. If anything, I would bet most of them cried out, “Why me?” I’m inspired by Joshua and I’m always grateful when God uses the most unlikely as the best candidates to get the job done. He will not leave us to be without a Shepard and this tells me He can use ordinary people like you and me.

I’m so encouraged today that my ordinary day and ordinary life can be used by God for great and wonderful matters. Not for my glory, but His glory. Not by my abilities, but by His ability. Not for my needs and desires, but for His needs and desires. What a purposeful, yet amazing life we can led if we listen to His voice, be obedient to His calling and live according to His will.

Sinner In the Middle

Posted in Daily Devotions: Chapter by Chapter by

Monkey-in-the-middle-pic

Today’s Devotion: Numbers 16

Do you remember the game Monkey in the Middle? Two people stand a distance a part and the person in the middle is trying to intercept the ball. Should they catch it, the thrower becomes the new monkey.

In Numbers 16 we have a situation of “Korah in the middle” and there is one big problem with that. God and Moses were playing toss and they never asked Korah to play; he just jumped in. Just like a big bully on the playground, Korah intervenes by trying to spike the ball which was a very bad move on his part. The moral of this chapter is, “Don’t get in the way of God’s plans, especially he hasn’t invited you to be a part of them.”

That’s exactly what Korah did. He built up a rebellion against Moses and Aaron and had their own agenda; and that agenda was not God’s. Even worse, they were jealous of Moses and Aaron and took it upon themselves to rise against them and they succeeded by bringing a lot of people down with them, but never got to Moses and Aaron.

How does this play out in our lives? We read and know the will of God, but we see an opportunity to impose our will. We do this for a lot of reasons (selfish ambition, boredom, impatience, jealousy, anger, etc.), but the primary reason is sin. God has a plan for our lives, but in our sin we craft a better idea; our idea. The result – we jump into the middle of God’s plan and try to get him to move toward us, instead of us moving toward Him.

The results were not favorable for Korah, his men, and 14,700 innocent Israelites who were affected by the plague that God began due to Korah’s rebellio. It’s a big mess and the chapter doesn’t have a overtly happy ending, but there is a clear message here and that message is that we don’t want to get in God’s way. Today I am reminded to pray to God as Jesus did, “42 Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42