God’s Anger Nothing To Laugh About
Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief?
-- Hebrews 3:16-19
The room filled with laughter as they shared a joke about those Israelites with no sense of direction. Take a look at the map, one said. How could they not find their way? They really didn’t have that far to travel and yet they kept going in circles.
Ah, I think they missed the point. And the lesson. And let me tell you from experience, missing the lesson is never, ever a good thing.
The Israelites didn’t keep missing the Promised Land because they were directionally challenged. They kept missing it because God said they would wander in the desert until those who sinned against God died. Period. They weren’t getting in the Promised Land. No way. No how. Wasn’t happening. Because God said so and God doesn’t lie.
God knew their sin just as He knows our hearts. Why do we think we can pull something over on God? Why do we think we’re in control? Why do we believe -- even jokingly -- that we could have found the Promised Land even though God clearly said no?
It’s that arrogance that will get us into trouble every time. Because we get to thinking we’re smarter than we are. And that we can do anything we want. That we’re in control. That we determine our own destiny. And that we don’t need God as much as everybody else does. At least not when it comes to the details of life.
Yeah, the details. All those little things that add up and make a life. We’ve got the details covered. Or so we think.
Until we lose that high-paying job. Until we get sick. Until we’re in a wreck. Until we find out our spouse is having an affair. Or our child is on drugs. Or until our best friend betrays a confidence. Or, well, it doesn’t matter. Or does it?
Because it’s the details that can really destroy your life. It’s the details that can derail your dreams and send you to your knees. It’s the details that make you realize how little you really are and how very big God really is.
The Israelites didn’t make it to the Promise Land because they doubted. They didn’t trust God. We’re in danger of the same thing when we doubt God’s power in our own lives. God is mighty and Sovereign and Creator and Protector. He is everything, in the details or the big stuff. It’s nothing to laugh about. Just ask the Israelites.
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