30/10/2011 - Do not do such a thing

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And they tested God in their heart by asking for the food of their fancy.

Psalm 78:18

Many of our attitudes hurt the Lord’s heart. In the biblical times, for instance, the Israelites rejected the food that God had sent them in the wilderness, a place where they lacked everything. That God-given food – the manna – was like white coriander seed (Exodus 16:31) and it contained all the nutrients those people would need to live, just as the Word of God which has in Itself all that we need without causing us any harm.

In the past, God’s people remembered the seasoned food from Egypt. My brother, the sin committed by Israel was in their heart, which makes us believe that because a spiritual battle had taken place inside them, they gave more credit to what the enemy was saying. The same happens today: many children of God – missing what they had when they were in the world, and thinking that holiness is not enough to bring them the much sought-after joy – turned back to sin, to that very thing the devil has been showing them.

The decision that the Israelites made, even without uttering a word, caused that spiritual battle to be lost; that is the reason why God send them quails with which they would fill up their stomach. We do not know what the craving they yielded to caused to their future generations but some kind of contamination from that meat prepared without the basic sanitary conditions might have brought them illnesses that were manifested later on and damaged their descendents’ health or, perhaps, even our own.

Those people let themselves be carried away by the temptation of satisfying the desires of their flesh. By the way, there are many people who, taken by the same impulse, suffer today from obesity, diabetes and other diseases which, apart from damaging their bodies, are oftentimes passed on to their descendents.

Beware! Do not fall for the lies of the enemy! Be sober in everything by obeying what is written in the Word of God in order to resist temptations because in so doing you will give the Spirit of God the victory and you will be a successful person in all areas of your life.

The Lord called us to be part of His people in order for us to be a blessing. Every time the enemy comes up with a “tempting” proposal, the Lord observes the decision made in our hearts and also the attitudes we take. If we decide to trust in the Most High we will gladden Him – and the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10b)! However, if we do not please Him we will become weak and will not achieve His favor.

Get used to trusting in the will of God!

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares