Numbers 14:1-15:16, Mark 1:53-72, Psalms 53:1-6, Proverbs 11:4
Today is the 10th day of March. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you. And here we are about to close the books on another week. And they just keep hopping by. Day by day, step by step, they just keep hopping by. So, here we are at the end of another week. And we have been reading from the New International Version this week, so we’ll do that for today. We’ll head back out into the desert. It’s getting kind of dramatic out there. Some spies have gone into the Promise Land, so the first people to go into the Promise Land and they’ve come back with a mixed bag, a mixed review. And we’ll pick up with that story. Numbers chapter 14 verse 1 through 15:16 today.
Commentary:
Okay. So, man, such bad news in the book of Numbers today. So, the children of Israel had received the law of Moses, began to operate accordingly, numbered themselves and prepared to move into the Promise Land. I mean, that’s what that ordering and how the tabernacle would be in the center, representing God with the people and the entire camp around it and how they would move out. All of this is for one purpose - to go into the Promised Land. Like, it’s time. And, so, one spy from each tribe of Israel was sent in to scout the land as we read. And they came back and it was a mixed bag. Only Joshua and Caleb were like, let’s do this. Like, it’s time. Finally, after all of these generations, right? This has been the story we’ve been following since the book of Genesis. So, now it’s finally time for them to go in but when the spies come back, they come back with a mixed report, which demoralizes the people and that’s that. They’re not going in. They’re going back out into the desert. And God is saying this entire generation doesn’t get to go in. And now that we have followed this whole trail in its context, we can see that at every turn God is shaping them, forcing them to depend on him. He is coming through. He is providing for them in a place where there is no way they could have that provision. He is guiding them miraculously. Their reputation has spread to all the people all around them and the people are unsettled to say the least. And we’ve watched. We’ve watched them grumble, we’ve watched them complain, we’ve watched them lament and say slavery was better than freedom. And, so, it’s important to realize that not only is this the children of Israel, this is our life. Like, it is all playing out. And we can read this as a story and go, you people are so stupid, what else would God need to do until we look in the mirror and go, oh my goodness. This is hitting me right between the eyes. And, so, what happens is, you know, a bunch of grumbling and then God tells them, okay, okay, it was going to be now. Like, we were going, but you need to turn around and go back into the wilderness. None of you get to go in. What that effectively does, as the Scriptures make pretty clear, is that there was a second generation. Kids had been born. There were children among them. Those children were all supposed to grow up in the Promised Land and they didn’t get to. Forty more years have to go by. Those children have to grow up. It’s the children that actually have to go into the Promise Land. And the first generation that was supposed to grow up completely in freedom and completely in the land that God had promised didn’t get to because their parents, their parents couldn’t get their mind out of slavery. They couldn’t get past their own stuff. So, instead of going into the land of promise, they’re going back out into the wilderness. And we have to ask ourselves, in our own lives how much wandering in the wilderness are we wanting to do? Is that going be the story of our lives? The wilderness - is that where we’re going to stay? Because like the children of Israel, we’re never going to be able to leave that place until we’ve learned the lessons that are given. Utter and total dependence on God is the only way forward. It has only ever been this way. And like the children of Israel, aren’t we still struggling with the same thing over and over and over? And don’t we hear our own voices grumbling and grumbling and grumbling? And hasn’t God continued to come through when we will trust him? Like, we make so many messes for ourselves that don’t need to be made. And we wander a lot of years that we don’t need to wander until we learn that we are utterly and completely dependent upon God and that vigilance over our hearts and a close fellowship with God is the only way to know what the next right step is going to be, then we’ll continue to take some steps in the right direction and some steps in the wrong direction. And basically, you know, like when you’re taking certain steps in certain directions and then you move in another direction and you start walking that way for a while and then you turn and walk another direction for a little while, that’s called wandering. And that’s what we will watch the children of Israel do and we will be invited to decide, is that going to be our story or can we learn the lesson of the wilderness and become utterly dependent on God?
Prayer:
So, Father, that’s a tough one because we try and do things in our own strength all the time. And it’s true, we find ourselves moving in one direction for a while then another then another then another and yeah, that’s wandering. So Holy Spirit, come. We become aware of Your presence. We give ourselves to You completely. We acknowledge that we are utterly dependent upon You and anything that would tell us otherwise is not true. We confess our grumbling spirit to You. We have certainly done that many, many, many times. And we ask forgiveness. We keep getting deceived into thinking that we’ve got to figure this all out because You might not come through. And that is simply not true. So, we trust you. Wherever this road is going, as long as we are going with You, as long as we are in fellowship with you, our allegiance is to You and we are vigilant about that relationship, we’re going in the right direction. So, come Holy Spirit. Lead us out of our wanderings, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Hey Daily Audio family. It’s Rick from Massachusetts. Thanks go to Brian and Jill and all the Hardin family, Mike, and all the workers behind the scenes. Blessings to all the DAB family. May the Lord bless you and He keep you. May the Lord shine His face upon you and be gracious to all of you listening. I’m calling today in response to Nora’s call from March 5th. Nora, I came out of a belief system that included works to make it to heaven. I believe it would be astonishingly true that when it’s broken down most people actually think they need to do something in order to get to heaven. That is the difference between Christianity and all other belief systems in the world. They all say do, do, do. Christianity and Jesus says, done. It is finished. Romans 10:10 says, believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and confess with your mouth and you will be saved. Most people have a propensity or thought process to either think we need to do something or perform to a certain level in order to be worthy for heaven. Accepting Christ is not performing to a standard in order to be worthy. It is coming to Him knowing we can’t do it, coming to Him because he did it. He led the perfect life and offers it to us in exchange for our simple life. So, Nora don’t be deceived to believe you need to perform. Jesus already did. Nora, by trusting in Jesus you are the righteousness of God in Christ, second Corinthians 5:21. Mistakes cannot change that when you trust in Jesus. That’s why He’s our Savior and where not. Alleluia.
Hello, this is Intercessor from Delaware. It’s been a while since I called in but I listen every day. And just now my heart was just overjoyed to hear a call that came in from Nora, I believe her name is from Canada. Nora, you touched my heart so deeply and I want you to know sister that I’m praying for you and I know God has some wonderful blessings that He will bless you with as you seek Him, as you get into His presence and get to know Him. He has…His Holy Spirit is actually wooing you and He will give you great understanding. I would love to communicate with you and just to inspire you to read your Bible and just to be a source of some resources for you. So, if you’re on Facebook, just go to the school of prayer or Facebook FACC School of Prayer. Leave a message your email address on there and I will send you some resources. And sister I pray shalom over you, God’s wholeness, fullness, completeness. His perfectness, peace, prosperity, soundness of mind, heart, spirit, and soul, His tranquility, harmony, His rest. Rest in Him my sister. He loves you. His safety, welfare, and His good health. All this was paid for by Christ Jesus. I love you. Be encouraged. You have some wonderful days ahead of you. God will speak His purposes and dreams into you through His Holy Spirit. God bless you.
Hi Daily Bible folks. I’m a new member, just started in January, 1st of the year, really enjoying the Daily Bible. I do have a prayer request for my wife who’s just had a full hip replacement, a right hip. And she is suffering through quite a bit of pain. And we would appreciate the team praying for her. And she’ll be coming home tomorrow. She is being discharged from the rehabilitation center. Yeah, it’s still going to be quite a bit of pain connected with the hip replacement. And those of you who have had it will know that, obviously, there’s a lot of healing that has to take place. Appreciate all the prayers that you could give us. And again, this is Jeff R. My wife’s name is Judy Ann R. And we look forward to listening to the program every day. Thank you very much for your prayers. And God bless everyone. In Jesus’ precious name, we pray. Amen.
Hello Daily Audio Bible family. My name is Susie in Savannah. I just wanted to call and say that I’m new to the Daily Audio Bible. I just started listening this past January 2018 and I am so impressed and humbled and thankful for all of you and especially for Brian Hardin and for Jill and for all the work and all your staff that go into this daily reading of God’s living and breathing word. You truly do make a difference. So, kudos to you for doing this. I know that it’s a lot of work. I know it’s a labor of love to you and that you show that love to us. It shines through in your voices. So, thank you so much. You have made a tremendous difference in my life. And I just wanted to say that I really appreciate Blind Tony who calls in with his beautiful poems. I am part of a group that prays in front of the abortion clinic here in Savannah and I use his poems as part of the outreach on the sidewalk in front of the abortion clinic. I read them out loud to the women as their going into the abortion clinic and they touch the women’s heart. And, so, I wanted to let Tony know that. So, keep up with those beautiful poems. Brian keep up the reading. And Jill, when you fill in for him, I’m so excited to hear your voice and hear about the More Gathering. I hope I can come someday. But mostly I wanted to say thank you, thank you, thank you, so much for what you do and thank you to the Daily Audio Bible family.
Hello this is Teresa from Florida. I’m a new listener, well starting this year. Calling in earlier in January for some prayer requests for my husband who is was having an affair and was wanting to leave. I want to thank all of you for the prayers and to let you know that the affair has ended and we are now together. We are still struggling day by day, but we are going to make it. Working through the power of Christ and prayer we’re going to make it. We’re still struggling financially, struggling with my family, his family is not here and that just distresses him greatly and my family has a lot of problems. But pray for our continued love for each other, for our family, for our marriage. And that, you know, I want to thank you and I want to praise God for answering my prayers and for keeping my marriage together. And he is not a believer but I stand strong in the belief that he will be. He will come to it with God’s love and your prayers and my prayers and my love. And I just want to thank you. And I want to thank you Brian. And may God bless you and continue to prosper this ministry. Thank you.