Let us learn. [ Deuteronomy 14 v 21 - 23 ]

Continuing on in Numbers 21,we read that God punished the people by sending firey serpents among them , the term firey , W . Riggans relates to the burning sensation of the venom in the body of those the serpents bit'. As a result of being bitten many of the people died,this came about because the people threw of restraint, and the fear of the Lord. What is the fear of the Lord? , to me it appears to mean a showing of reverance, and it seems to me when you act like Israel did you cross a line, that, yes, is dangerous . I believe when it comes to God we must be very careful,God we are told is a consuming fire [Hebrews 12 v29 ]. Time after time Israel had to be taught the fear of God, consider the words of Ecclesiastes 5 v 7, we read ,/ but fear thou God /, do it voluntary or be taught it ,which is usually a very painful experience. The vast majority of people have no fear of God [Romans 3 v 18 ], but one day they will fear [Revelation 6 v 15 -17 ] The fear of the Lord we are told is to hate evil [Proverbs 8v13 ], for if we embrace evil then we will experience Gods just punishment. God is the master teacher , what does every teacher require of his pupils?, to learn ,in Deuteronomy 14 v23 , God the great teacher wants His people to learn the fear of the Lord

A prayer / Dear God we love you and yet we reverance You with a godly fear,in Jesus name Amen /

A short spirit and a short soul.[ Psalm 139 v 23- 24 ]

In Numbers 21 v 4-9 we have according to Jewish tradition the last and the worst of Israel,s apostasies in the wilderness. It all came about because the people were discouraged, Walter Riggans comments,/They had been rejected by the kings of Edom and Arad, and had lost their High Priest Aaron./ So they spake against God and Moses they had a list of complints ,they let a wrong spirit enter into them. It is W R who describes their condition in two ways , having a short spirit, and a short soul. Having a short spirit, means being impatient, unable to keep one,s temper in check, a loosing of self discipline, it is the opposite of long suffering. Having a short soul means being thoroughly discouraged, feeling so low they forgot all about Gods goodness to them, He had delivered them from cruel bondage, provided for them, and protected them. I am sure we can identify with what happened to Israel, and what they did, and who is to say we may have acted like they did. Let us read and learn, what is the Holy Spirit is saying to you, and me, as we read this, have we let todays difficuties drive us and control us, to the point that we are speaking against God and His leaders, let us draw back from this wrong spirit, and ask God to renew within us a right spirit.
Be still, my heart, these anxious cares
To thee are burdens, thorns and snares,
They cast dishonour on the Lord
And contradict His gracious word.

Though rough and thorny be the road,
It leads thee home apace to God,
Then count thy present trials small,
For Heaven will make amends for all.
[J Newton ]
A prayer [Dear God in the midst of trials grant us grace to glorify Thee, in Jesus name. Amen ]

No hedging our bets.[ Matthew 8 18 -22 ]

A certain king Raedwald of East Anglia, [ 600- 624 ] was baptised as a Christian, but he still kept much of his pagan ways and worship. In 1939 a treasure trove was found with a mix of pagan and Chistian artifacts, and they are thought to belong to king Raedwald, the historian comments, /he continued to hedge his bets/. It is like what we read of in 2 Kings 17 v 33. /They feared the Lord, and served their own gods,/in other words they were hedging their bets,in gambling one can put on a bet , each way.If we are going to be saved we cannot hedge our bets, we must trust in Christ alone.And if we going to follow Jesus,then we cannot hedge our bets, Jesus says follow me. The call of Jesus to us is to follow Him, and Him alone , it may appear riskey, but be assured it will be for the best. Jesus if I could put it with reverance Jesus is a sure thing ,when we risk all on Christ,we will descover that we are safe and secure .


Mary J Walker wrote. Jesus I will trust Thee
Trust Thee with my soul.


A prayer [Dear Lord Jesus grant us the grace to be singleminded
and to not hedge our bets. Amen ]

Hasty decisions.[ Joshua 9 v14 ]

Isaiah 28 v16 declares, /He that believeth shall not make haste/,earlier in the day we were in a store and looking at computors, and after listening to a nice young sales person,I said we will think about it.It is so easy to make hasty decisions and find out later one has made the wrong decision,I am sure we have all done this. The thought of making a hasty decision implies unthought out decisions, marrying in haste and repenting at leisure, is an old saying,that bears a lot of truth. Yes there are times we need to make quick decisions ,to get out of trouble, but hasty decisions can land us in trouble. We make hasty decisions when we are afraid,in a crisis, or emotionally unstable, Psalm 46 v10 reminds us that there is a more excellant way, /Be still and know that I am God/,that means waiting on God, for His leading and guidance, and to be quitely confident in God.Our Saviour was never rushed into a hasty decision, at all times He waited and moved, in God His Fathers timing [, John11 v 6] , so let us heed the words of Isaiah 28 v16,/He that believeth shall not make haste./

A Prayer [ Help us oh God to be controlled and guided by Your Holy Spirit in all our decisions in Jesus name. Amen. ]

Only Jesus [ John 14 v 6 ]

Today I witnessed to a man, about trusting Jesus, but as usual he said the same old thing how he would trust in his goodness and in a God of love. Now we have been thinking about Gods perfect plan, as the only plan God will accept,in Matthew 22v 11-14 we have a parable of the guest who neglected to wear the garment provided for him by the king, the result was he was cast out into outer darkness. People must take serious that only Gods solution will cause them to be accepted by a Holy God, if we fail to accept it , or as most people do, refuse to accept it, like that man I witnessed to today, then make no mistake, they will not be accepted. Gods perfect plan removes sin and clothes us with Christs righteousness[ 1 Corinthians 1 v 30] ,and so enables God to have a personal relationship with the crown of His creation.

N.L. Von Zinzendorf wrote the following.
Jesus Thy blood and righteousness,
My beauty are, my glorious dress,
Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I left up my head.

This spotless robe the same appears,
When ruined nature sinks in years,
No age can change its glorious hue,
The robe of Christ is ever new.

Prayer [ Dear God help us to cease from self ,and trust Your perfect plan for our salvation ,
Jesus Your perfect Son. Amen ]

Gods perfect plan. [ John 3 v16 ]

We continue to consider, God the Holy One, and man the sinful one,this created a terrible dilemma,for God, for I believe God created man in order to have fellowship with Him. Because of sin, true and meaning or lasting fellowship could not take place, and yet God still desired it.Before the problem could be resolved thousands of years must pass,and all the time God was pursuing man. Although mankind messed things up time and time again, and although God had to deal with mankind, He never give up on man, or stopped loving them. Inspite of mans condition and sinful behaviour, God had a plan, a perfect plan so audacious ,so beyond anything that man could have thought up.This perfect plan,would be accomplished by the only perfect man, Jesus,and so it came to pass, it took place on a cross ,and on that cross God was reconciling the world unto Himself [2 Corinthians 5 v 19 ], we will consider this further next time. [ Dear God we praise You for the wisdom , the mercy, and the love manifested, in Your perfect plan of salvation, in Jesus name. Amen ]

The Holy one. [ Isaiah 6 v1 - 8 ]

One of the great themes in the book of Isaiah is the holiness of God, A Motyer says,/ The whole of the Isaianic literature has a theology of holiness. The Holy one of Israel which occurs 25 times in Isaiah as compared to 7 times in the remainder of the O T ./The idea of holiness is I believe very hard for us to appreciate, in fact most people dont ,we are conditioned to accept moral imperfection, and we accept that nothing ,and nobodys perfect, oh yes we get shocked at certain things like child abuse,or some awful crime,but we fail to appreciate ,a holy God. Why does the book of Isaiah,put such importance on holiness?.Also why does he also emphasize mans sinfulness[ cp......1v 5-6. v18/ 6 v 5 /9 v 13ff/ 27 v9/29v13 /33v14/40 v 18-20 /47 v 10/,there are many more places in Isaiah, that stress mans sinfulness. So we have the Holy one , and man the sinful one,what is there to be done?, we will consider this next time. [ We come to you the Holy one, this fills us with dread, for we are sinful , help us to appreciate these truths, in Jesus name. Amen ]