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Thin Ice: God’s Patience Has A Limit

It's Best Not to Wear God Out

God has a limit, and it’s best not to push it. He has given us ways to pour out our frustrations with his methods—prayer; ways to voice our concerns about human leadership—respectful debate; ways to speak our mind over grievances—Matthew 18. But there is a point when God says, “trust me on this. I’ll handle it in my way and in my time. In the meantime, submit to your current circumstance—consider your hardship as my Fatherly discipline.” At that point, is best not to wear God’s patience thin by continuing to push your grievance!

The Journey // Focus: Numbers 17:1-5

The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff.  On the staff of Levi write Aaron’s name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. Place them in the tent of meeting in front of the ark of the covenant law, where I meet with you. The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites.”

I grew up in the era where parents still disciplined their kids for misbehavior, in a physical sort of way, if you get my drift. At least mine did! And one thing my siblings and I learned after several encounters with our father’s approach to corporal punishment was that there was a thin line of parental patience that we dare not cross. We could crowd the line—which we did, early and often—but we were wise not to step beyond it. It took several missteps, but eventually we got it. And once we did, we settled into sort of a parent-child détente, if you will. Childhood was much more pleasurable for Ken, Bill and Ray (by the time our little sister Teresa came along, she seemed to live under a different set of discipline rules than we did—boo—but that’s for later).

One of the things that the child of God learns along the way, if they are wise, that is, is not to wear God’s patience thin. Of course, God is patient, and kind. He is the gold standard of longsuffering, for which we all should continually say, “praise the Lord.” He finds no pleasure in punishing his wayward children, but as some point, like a good parent, he must punish our sins in order to teach us to live in a manner that is glorifying to him and health-giving to us. Deuteronomy 8:5 reminds us,

Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good.

Numbers 17 is a continuation of the story from the previous chapter where some of the so-called leaders of the new nation of Israel are challenging the leadership authority of Moses and Aaron. In particular, Aaron seems to be the butt of their jealousy. Numbers 16:1-3 sets the scene,

Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?”

What we learn in this uprising, and others like it throughout Scripture, is that the protest is not against a man, in this case, Moses or Aaron, but against God himself. You see, Moses didn’t elect himself to be the president of Israel, nor did Aaron anoint himself as the nation’s preacher. God chose them. So when the other leaders, for whatever reason, criticized the current leadership structure, they were in reality criticizing the Lord himself. They were showing disrespect and distrust of Almighty God, even if they were unware of what they were doing:

Moses said, “It is against the Lord that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?” (Numbers 16:11)

Now to be transparent, Moses himself, had learned this very lesson the hard way. Remember when God met Moses at the burning bush and called him to lead the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt? (Exodus 3-4) Moses thought himself quite unqualified for the job, thank you very much, especially since he had already failed miserably in delivering Israel from Egypt forty years prior. But God had now come to him in a burning bush—a burning bush for crying out loud—and Moses was actually arguing with the miracle of God’s fiery presence. And after quite a few protestations, God’s patience with Moses wore dangerously thin:

But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.” Then the Lord became angry with Moses. (Exodus 4:13-14)

Similarly, in Numbers 17, the other leaders who were questioning God’s choice of Aaron found the limit of God’s patience. And wisely, they backed off, which was a good thing, since God said of them, “This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die.” (Numbers 17:10)

The point being, God has a limit. And it is best not to push it. It is best not to make him angry. He has given us ways to pour out our concerns about his will and his ways. It is called prayer. He has given us ways to voice our concerns about human leadership. It is called respectful debate. He has given us ways to speak our mind over grievances and hurts that others have inflicted on us. It is called Matthew 18. But there is a point when God says, “trust me. I will take care of this in my way and in my time. In the meantime, submit yourself to your current circumstance—consider your hardship as my Fatherly discipline.” At that point, is best not to wear God’s patience thin by continuing to push your grievance!

It is best not to wear God’s patience thin! You do not want to cross the line from the Fatherly discipline of hardship and discomfort to Divine punishment. A wise child will figure out when that is—and learn to back away from the line in loving trust.

Going Deeper: Have you been pushing the limits of trust by refusing to accept the things that you cannot change, and that God has refused to change for you? Give that some thought; it is an opportunity for you to grow in patience and trust.

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Give Your Leader a Break – It’s Biblical

Submission To Authority

Give your spiritual leader a break! The next time you’re frustrated with that leader, or tempted to join someone who is criticizing them, just remember what Hebrews says: “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as those who must give an account.” Though they are not perfect – perhaps far from it – they are on assignment from God. What we learn several times from Moses, particularly from Numbers 16:11, is that when a  person rejects the authority of the spiritual leader God has placed over them by complaining, criticizing, comparing and/or creating a rebellion against them, it is that person who will have to answer to God.

The Journey // Focus: Numbers 16:1-3, 11

One day Korah…conspired with Dathan and Abiram…they incited a rebellion against Moses, along with 250 other leaders of the community, all prominent members of the assembly. They united against Moses and Aaron and said, “You have gone too far! The whole community of Israel has been set apart by the Lord, and he is with all of us. What right do you have to act as though you are greater than the rest of the Lord’s people. …Then Moses said, “The Lord is the one you and your followers are really revolting against!”

Just as we have learned in previous chapters about complaining (Exodus 15, Leviticus 6, Numbers 14), so criticism and rebellion against a spiritual leader is tacit rebellion against God himself:

The Lord is the one you and your followers are really revolting against! …these men have shown contempt for the Lord. (Numbers 16:11, 20)

Let this be a warning to all of us who follow Christ. God has placed spiritual leaders to watch over his people. They are charged with caring for them, protecting them from predators, representing their needs to God, representing God’s will to them, and leading them to accomplish God’s mission on Planet Earth. God always works through human leaders.

It is true, as Korah and Company pointed out, the spiritual leader that God has placed over the spiritual community, big or small, is no better than the people they serve. All of God’s people have been set apart. Yes, God is with them all. Korah was right.

But Korah was wrong to assume that there was no difference between Moses and those he led. He was mistaken in thinking that just anyone could lead. He failed to understand that not all had been set apart to administrate God’s presence among his people and to ensure those people were following in the ways of God. You see, not all had been taken into God’s confidence as the representative of the people—only Moses. Not all had been given the leader’s measure of authority to use for the good of the people—only Moses. Not all had been called to surrender their lives for the well-being of the flock they lead—only Moses.

You see, God has ordained a leader to lead his flock, and that leader alone is accountable to God for the faithful execution of the duties of leadership.

So when people reject the authority of the leader by complaining, criticizing, comparing and/or creating a rebellion, God will remove his covering from that person and they will suffer the consequences. In the case of these usurpers in Numbers 16, their punishment was instantaneous death in the most dramatic fashion: the four leaders of the uprising, along with their families and everything they owned were swallowed up by the earth while the 250 prominent people who sided with them were instantly vaporized by holy fire. Never has God made such a point about his desire that we submit to spiritual authority as he did on that day.

Now God may no longer execute judgment that quickly and dramatically toward against those who criticize and rebel against the spiritual authority that he has placed over them, but make no mistake, at some point, those who rebel have set up a blockage to God’s blessing. I am not predicting what the consequences might be—sickness, financial lack, loss of influence, family rebellion—but “don’t be misled—you cannot mock God. You will always harvest what you plant.” (Galatians 6:7)

Rebel against God’s authority and you will pay a heavy price. So let me make my appeal to you: honor your leader. Hebrews 13:7 and 17 says,

“Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. …Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

Next time you are frustrated with your spiritual leader, or are tempted to go along with someone who is criticizing them, just remember what Hebrews says: “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account.”

Give your leader a break. Not only do they have to watch over their own soul, they have the impossible task of keeping you holy and presenting you perfect before Christ.

Going Deep: Take a moment to express your thanks to God for the leaders he has placed over you to tend to your soul. Then take some time this week to write that leader a note expressing your love, support and gratitude.

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Remind Me Again

It Helps To Keep First Things First

What do you do to remind yourself of what’s important? Those of us who are married wear a wedding band to remind us of the sacred covenant we made with our spouse before God. In my church tradition, our spiritual community receives communion once a month to remind us of the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross to redeem us, parents go through a child dedication ceremony as a reminder that the child in their arms is on loan from God, and converts go through the waters of baptism to remind themselves and the world that they now belong to Jesus. Reminders are a holy thing. Not that the symbol or the ceremony is in itself holy, but the act is holy in the sense that it reminds us of God’s right over all that we are and all that we possess. Keeping that perspective is arguably the most important spiritual priority that we as believers have. Reminders help us to keep the main thing the main thing, namely, that the Lord himself is our life.

The Journey // Focus: Numbers 15:37-41

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: Throughout the generations to come you must make tassels for the hems of your clothing and attach them with a blue cord. When you see the tassels, you will remember and obey all the commands of the Lord instead of following your own desires and defiling yourselves, as you are prone to do. The tassels will help you remember that you must obey all my commands and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt that I might be your God. I am the Lord your God!”

What do you do to remind yourself of what’s important? In the days before smartphones with pings that remind us of calendar events, some people would tie a string around their finger as a reminder of an upcoming appointment. Those of us who are married wear a wedding band to remind us of the sacred covenant we made with our spouse before God. In my church tradition, our spiritual community receives communion once a month to remind us of the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross to redeem us. We also take people through membership classes to remind them of their commitment to God and their part in Missio Dei of our church; parents go through a child dedication ceremony as a reminder that the child in their arms is on loan from God; converts go through the waters of baptism to remind themselves and the world that they now belong to Jesus.

Reminders are a holy thing. Not that the symbol or the ceremony is in itself holy, but the act is holy in the sense that it reminds us of God’s right over all that we are and all that we possess. Keeping that perspective is arguably the most important spiritual priority that we as believers have. Reminders help us to keep first things first, the main things the main things, namely, that the Lord himself is our life.

And reminders are not just human inventions, mnemonic devices that we, either by being legitimately creative or patently corny, conjure up to assist our faulty memory. Reminders are God invented. Throughout Scripture God called his people to set up reminders of his covenant, his provision, his intervention, his holiness and his grace-filled love: stones of remembrance, holy days and sacred feasts, sacrifices and ceremonies. In this particular story, God called his people to do something that we might consider quirky, if not silly, with their clothing: they were to attach blue tassels to the hem of their clothing.

Now in our day and age of high fashion and advanced textile processes, this doesn’t impress us. In fact, it seems rather cultish, typical of what those strange orthodox Jews do. But keep in mind the time and setting of the people of Israel. Attaching blue tassels was no simple thing. It required extra effort and skill. It also offered the one who made the garment a chance to display some fashion artistry, and the one who wore it to be a bit of a fashion plate—all in the best sense of artistry and fashion. But mainly it was a reminder of something special.

For one thing, wearing the blue tassels reminded the people that they were special. In the ancient world, clothing was essentially plain, unless you were a person of standing. It could have meant that the wearer was a priest or royalty. The tasseled clothing identified that person within their communities and to the outside world as something special. In this case, the Israelites were being distinguished by God as his very special and treasured possession.

But for another reason, the tasseled clothing reminded the wearer and the watcher that God was special. While we wearing clothing to draw attention to ourselves, in this case, God wanted them to wear clothing to draw attention to himself. Specifically, the effect that it was to produce in drawing their attention to God was that he had ownership over their lives, and as a result, deserved their complete and continual obedience and demanded from them a lifestyle of holiness. Listen to how God himself instructed them:

The tassels will help you remember that you must obey all my commands and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt that I might be your God. I am the Lord your God!

The point being, God still wants our obedience and our holiness. He still desires and deserves that we live in continual awareness that we are his, that we belong to him. And furthermore, times have not changed since the days of the wilderness journey in the sense that we still forget this most important truth, and therefore still need to set up regular reminders that God is special, and since he has chosen us to be his own, has called us serve his purposes on earth, and has consecrated us in holiness to be his distinct people, we are special, too.

So the question is, as much as you have good intentions not to forget this, what can you do as a regular reminder that you are God’s and God is yours? I am not suggesting blue tassels or a string around your finger or a ping on your smartphone, but it might be as simple as using your weekly worship attendance to recalibrate your thoughts toward what makes you so special.

If you don’t like my idea, and can’t come up with your own, go get some blue thread!

Going Deeper: Give some creative thought to how you can set up ongoing reminders of how special you are to God, and how special he is to you.

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If You Are A Chronic Complainer, Then Your Issue Is With God!

Trust Your God—You Give Him No Greater Gift

The underlying spirit of complaint is that we don’t trust God’s sovereign plan that has allowed us to be in the undesirable state about which we are protesting. It indicates that we don’t trust his power to see us through and accomplish his purposes by those circumstances. Even if complaining is directed at people or situations, it questions his rule over us, and it is sin. And it can spread like a wildfire in the spiritual community, leaving the ashes of doubt, distrust and irreparable damage. In every circumstance, we must reject whining for worshiping the God who does all things well. There is no greater gift that we offer him than our trust, especially when times are difficult, enemies are great, and resources are few.

The Journey// Focus: Numbers 14:1-3

Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night. Their voice rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. ‘If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!’ they complained. ‘Why is the Lord taking us to this country only to have us die in battle?”

As the children of Israel neared their Promised Land, their leader Moses sent out twelve spies on a reconnaissance mission. They were to probe enemy territory for weakness in order to enable the Israelites army the best place to invade the land and the best strategy to conquer the inhabitants that held “their” land. Of course, it was expected that these twelve spies, having seen the mighty hand of God time and again extended on their behalf, would come back full of faith for the challenge ahead.

But when the twelve spies returned from their mission with a first hand report of the land, ten of them were of a pessimistic perspective, and they turned the whole community into complainers. Their field reports start off well—it was indeed an incredible land their God was giving them—but it quickly turned from the promise of fruit to the problems they would face, namely giants and warriors. And it quickly threw cold water on the faith of the Israelite community.

That is so true of negativity—it can spread with the ferocity of a wildfire.

In spite of all that God had miraculously done up to this point, the people focused on how difficult things were in front of them rather than on how awesome the Power was behind them. The people got down, then they got mad, then they complained about their leader. Then, unbelievably, they complained about God. Then, incredibly, they whined about going back to a life of slavery in Egypt.

In essence, they were saying, “God, we don’t trust your sovereign plan, nor in your power to pull it off. We don’t think you know what you’re doing and we don’t like one bit this mess you’ve gotten us into.” Though they didn’t say it quite that directly, that was the underlying spirit of their complaint.

The underlying spirit in all complaint is that we don’t trust God’s sovereign plan that has allowed us to be in the undesirable state about which we are complaining. Likewise, our complaining indicates that we don’t trust his power to see us through it and accomplish his purposes by it. That is why complaint, even if it is directed at another person or a situation, is really a complaint against the Sovereign Lord; it is a sin. Worse yet, complaining spreads like a wildfire, leaving the ashes of doubt and distrust throughout our the spiritual community. At all times and in every circumstance, we must reject spiritual temper-tantrums for tempered trust in the One who does all things well.

There is no greater gift that we offer to God than our trust—even when, or more accurately, especially when circumstances are difficult, enemies are great, and resources are few. In contrast, nothing disappoints God more than when his children complain, since it is in essence the worst form of distrust in the Lord’s goodness, wisdom, power and love. And this is precisely why God judges so harshly the deep and persistent complaints of the ones who should deeply and persistently lean into him.

As a friend of mine says, you are either a lean in-er or a lean out-er. I hope you are the former!

Going Deeper: Are you a lean-inner or a lean-outer? Do you trust or do you complain? Do you worship or do you whine? Re-read Numbers 13 and 14, then determine to offer yourself to God in complete, unshakeable trust.

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Giants

Giant: Whatever Stands Between Your Obedience and God's Promise

Are you facing a giant in your life? A giant is anything or anyone that stands between your obedience to God and his promise to you. If you are, you will face the same two choices the Israelites spies faced as they scoped out the Promise Land: fear or faith. You can either be consumed by fear and retreat (and wander in mediocrity, missing out on what God has in store for you), or you can step forward in faith and give God a chance. If you will choose the courageous faith that it takes to face your giant, God will show up — and a testimony will be born!

The Journey// Focus: Numbers 13:33

There we saw giants.

Giants—they are a common experience for each of us in life. Like the little boy in the movie The Sixth Sense says to the psychologist, “I see dead people,” we open our eyes and there we see them—BHAG’s: big hairy, audacious giants.

I remember the first time I saw a giant—a literal one. I was in seventh grade, playing a football game against Fleming Jr. High in Grants Pass, Oregon. I was all of about five feet two inches tall, 120 pounds and they had a guy on their team who was a walking pituitary gland. He stood six feet, four inches tall and weighed in at a whopping 230 pounds—in the seventh grade for crying out loud.

Furthermore, he was their running back! This guy was a freak; he was huge—a man among boys, a giant among grasshoppers. And we were going to have to tackle this behemoth.

We looked over at him during pre-game warm ups and lost the game right there! We were intimidated. All except for one guy: the smallest guy on our team, a boy by the name of Lee. He was fired up and ready to go after this big lug. Lee figured that even though he was big, he’d be slow and easy to tackle if you hit him low. Sure enough, during the game, Lee was all over this guy, and he gained a testimony that day. He “made his bones” as a hard-hitting tackler and fierce competitor.

Lee went on to be a state champion wrestler, though he never weighed more than 120 pound all throughout high school. I always wanted Lee around in a tight squeeze because he refused to be intimidated by anything!

Well, sure enough, during that game, the giant came running to my side of the field. I was a defensive end, and here came Goliath lumbering my way on an end sweep. I took Lee’s advice and hit him low. The guy didn’t have a chance. The bigger they are…

That was my first giant, but certainly not my last. Throughout my ministry I’ve seen them take the form of a medical diagnosis that sucks the wind out of you, as turmoil that threatens to destroy a marriage, as a family crisis, as an overwhelming financial challenge and as open hostility to ministry. Everywhere there are giants!

What I’ve learned is that giants never get any smaller, nicer or less intimidating. Everywhere you look, there are giants. But that is not what is important. The important thing is what you are going to do about them.

The context for this verse comes from the story of the twelve Israelites that Moses sent in to spy out the Promised Land. The writer points out that ten of the twelve were afraid when they saw these giants and retreated from possessing the land. They lost the game before it even began. They never gave God a chance! And they wandered in mediocrity for 40 years because they gave into intimidation and fear.

But the other two, Joshua and Caleb, had a different spirit. They were like my friend Lee. They saw the same giants, but their response was, “Let’s go take the land.” They made their testimony that day and they got to go into the Promised Land while the others wandered in mediocrity.

They gave God a chance—and the rest is history!

I think this story is really interesting not just because it explains the Israelites forty years’ of wilderness wandering, but because giants are just as real today for you and me as they were back then. Giants still stand between you and God’s promises for your life. You and I face giants every day in our family, relationships, job, church, physical bodies, emotions and even in our own hearts.

And we face the same two choices that these twelve men faced: Fear or faith

We can either be consumed by fear and retreat—and wander in mediocrity, missing out on what God has for us. Or step forward in faith and give God a chance. We can trust God for great things, experience the mighty hand of God that brings victory in our lives and get a testimony to boot!

Here’s something interesting: When Israel moved forward, they faced giants. When they retreated, they faced no giants. The fact is, the life of faith means facing giants, but that’s okay, because it means you are just one giant away from a spectacular testimony of faith. David would have no testimony without Goliath! Joshua and Caleb would have no testimony without their giants! And you will have no testimony without your giant.

Charles Spurgeon said, “Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties.” Take heart in that because it is likely you are facing a giant today as a challenge at work or a difficulty in your marriage or a crisis in your family or as a war with fear, doubt or perhaps sin in your personal life.

Just remember, God always goes before the one who steps forward in faith to face their giant—and a testimony gets born!

Going Deeper: you If you are facing a giant, offer this prayer: “God, there are giants along the journey of faith I’ve been called to walk. But I choose not to see giants. Instead, I look to the God who goes before me, the One who gives strength to the weak and turns them into giant-slayers. So as I face my giants, I will do so with courage. And I pray that the result will bring great glory to you and a testimony of faith from my life.”

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Can God Trust Me?

Nothing Matters More

The most important benchmark for spiritual leaders is that they have gained God’s trust. If you aspire to influence with God, and by that, influence with people, then you must make it your prayer that God will find you trustworthy. And not only in your praying, but you must give conscious and continual effort to be a man or woman of unquestionable dependability, wisdom and integrity with the things God has entrusted to you. Nothing matters more.

The Journey// Focus: Numbers 12:7-8

Of all my house, my servant Moses is the one I trust. I speak to him face to face, clearly, and not in riddles! He sees the Lord as he is. So why were you not afraid to criticize my servant Moses?

Time and again, Moses, hands down the greatest leader the world has ever known, faced challenges to his leadership. Even from within his inner circle there were people, who for a variety of reasons—all of them wrong—tried to take him down. Particularly disappointing was the uprising of his own brothers and sister against his God-given authority.

Miriam, with her brother Aaron’s support, became jealous of Moses and criticized him. God had been doing marvelous things among the Israelites, revealing his presence in ways not seen nor heard before. Most satisfying to the nation of Israel was that God was revealing himself to them as a very personal and powerful Deity. Of course, up to this point, Moses had been God’s point man. God spoke through him to the people in unheard of ways. But Moses was just one man, and the nation was exceedingly large, so God instructed Moses to expand the base of spokesmen so the word of the Lord could be spread more effectively among the two million Israelites. In Numbers 11, seventy elders of Israel were selected for that role. And even these men had gotten into the act and were prophesying as the Spirit of God came upon them. God was showing up, revealing his presence, revealing his word, revealing his power and revealing his provision.

Something else was showing us, too. Pride! Miriam and Aaron, too, had tremendous encounters with the Lord, and had been used in outstanding ways, but they wanted more. But when they saw Moses getting so much recognition from God and from the people, they were critical because, as his sister and brother, they knew he was flawed. And the perfect opportunity to bring him down a notch or two came in the form of his wife. They focused their criticism on the fact that he had married a non-Israelite woman, and used that as their justification to diminish him while seizing more recognition for themselves.

Amazingly, God stepped in to defend Moses: “Listen carefully to what I’m telling you. If there is a prophet of God among you, I make myself known to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But I don’t do it that way with my servant Moses; he has the run of my entire house; I speak to him intimately, in person, in plain talk without riddles: He ponders the very form of God. So why did you show no reverence or respect in speaking against my servant, against Moses?” (Numbers 12:6-8, MSG)

If you are a spiritual leader, how awesome would it be that God would literally come to your defense? Would to God that he would do that today when his human leaders are under unfair criticism and flesh-inspired attack!

But what is even more powerful is God’s evaluation of Moses as he sets Miriam and Aaron straight. God acknowledges that he speaks through others prophetically, but Moses is on an altogether higher plain—God trusts him, so he speaks to him face to face; Moses received the Lord’s direct communication; Moses sees the Lord as he is.

What a testimony! And as a spiritual leader, that should be the benchmark I set for both my life and ministry—that God trusts me.

That is my prayer, that God will find me trustworthy! How about you? In whatever role of influence God has given you, whether great or small, whether others respect your leadership or you are facing challenges, make it your aim to humbly, submissively offer yourself to the One you represent, and allow him to put his divine affirmation upon your leadership.

Going Deeper: Do you desire to be like Moses? Try offering this prayer: “Father god, make me Moses-like in my attitude, in my service to you, and in my influence with people. Thank you for hearing my prayer and answering me when I call out to you. What a gracious, merciful and loving Father you are.”

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Romanticizing The Past

The Good Old Days Weren't Always So Good

In a very real sense, sin is an attempt to fill the emptiness in our lives with the things that God will ultimately provide, but doing so apart from waiting and trusting through faith for him to give them in his way and in his time. The scary thing is, when we stubbornly persist in our fleshly attempts to satisfy the empty part of our soul, God may actually give us what we crave—but allow an even deeper emptiness within. We must be careful what we ask for, and rather learn to seek only what he desires to give.

The Journey // Focus: Numbers 11:4-6

The foreign rabble within the Israelite community began to crave other food, and again the children of Israel started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”

The children of Israel were a couple of years into their wilderness experience, and God was developing their faith by testing their trust. And on several occasions, the people failed the test. This was just such an occasion. The “rabble” among them—likely a non-Israelite group that followed them out of Egypt, for whatever reason—were a constant source of trouble. In this case, they influenced God’s people to complain about his provision by romanticizing “all the wonderful provisions” they so enjoyed back in Egypt. Of course, they wouldn’t have left Egypt if those were truly the good old days. But undisciplined desires began to taint their memories, and they started longing for a return to the “pleasures” of Egypt, which of course, were sinful pleasures.

Is sin pleasurable? You bet it is—that’s why it works so well. Hebrews 11 refers to this very thing: “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.” (Hebrews 11:24-26)

To be sure, sin is attractive. There is a certain “value in its treasures”, as we see in the case of Moses’ rejection of sin’s seasonal satisfaction. There is an enjoyment of the “pleasures of sin for a season”: the buzz from that alcoholic drink, the high from that illicit drug, the thrill of crossing that sexual boundary, the emotional release of that angry, hurtful tirade, the general freedom of that life controlled by sinful desires rather than by the Holy Spirit. Yes, there is pleasure in sin—for a season.

But seasons end and sinful pleasures are fleeting: they are short-lived, and they are progressively destructive to everything that God intends for us: a healthy body, harmonious relationships, and a holy life. And sinful pleasures dull our sense of reality—we begin to romanticize what we once had. In that sense, when we long for the good old days where sin reigned in our lives, we need to snap ourselves back into reality and admit that the good old days weren’t actually that good; in truth, they were the bad old days. Listen to how author Larry Osborn talks about this very thing:

Almost every generation looks back and wonders what happened to the “good old days.” It’s human nature. The evils of the past tend to fade from memory, while the injustices and evils of the present stand out in bold relief. Perhaps that is why Solomon wrote, “Do not say ‘Why were the old days better than these?’ For it is not wise to ask such questions.” (Ecclesiastes 7:10)

Whenever we are tempted to ask, “why were the old days better than these?”, that should be a red alert that we need to do as Moses did and compare the short-lived benefits of sin with the long-term reward of trusting God. When we fail to trust in God’s promise to fully meet our needs and satisfy our desires, we will end up romanticizing the past’s sketchy track record of fully pleasuring our heart’s desire. The things we once depended on for satisfaction and security, the pleasurable sensations that money or power or attention or relationships or possessions or food or sex produces, apart from God, are what C.S. Lewis referred to as the “sweet poison of the false infinite.” These are what we might call substitute sacreds—the surrogates we desperately use to fill the emptiness of our dissatisfied lives.

In reality, however, no substitute sacred ever fulfills what it so brazenly promises. Only the one true Sacred can do that! St. Augustine said, “Sin comes when we take a perfectly natural desire or longing or ambition and try desperately to fulfill it without God…All these good things, and all our security, are rightly found only and completely in him.” God longs for us to come trustingly to him with our needy souls so he can graciously and abundantly and unendingly satisfy our deepest longings and most powerful passions—in his way and in his time. As Augustine said, God has created us for himself, and we will only find satisfaction when we find our satisfaction in him.

In a very real sense, sin is an attempt to fill the emptiness in our lives with the things that God will ultimately provide, but doing so apart from waiting and trusting through faith for him to give them in his way and in his time. The scary thing is, when we stubbornly persist in our self-centered attempts to satisfy the empty part of our soul, God may actually give us what we crave—but allow an even deeper emptiness within. Psalm 106:13-15 offers this sad and sobering commentary on our undisciplined desires:

The children of Israel soon forgot God’s works;
They did not wait for His counsel,
But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness,
And tested God in the desert.
So He gave them their request,
But sent leanness into their soul.

To get what we want, yet end up with leanness in our souls—what a sad possibility. Let the Israelites in Numbers 11 be a continual cautionary tale that we must be careful what we ask for. Rather, we must learn to seek only what God desires to give and be grateful for what he has already graciously provided.

Going Deeper: Read and reflect on Psalm 106, then do two things: First repent of your fleshly desires and cry out to God to lead you not into temptation. Second, practice gratitude for what you’ve got. Doing that will cause you to focus on the rewards of following God and reject the false infinites of what you left behind in your life of sin.