17/04/2020 - WHEN WE OFFEND THE LORD

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And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.”  Numbers 21:5

After the kingdom of Arad – a mountain donkey – was destroyed, the Israelites walked toward Canaan along the Red Sea. They had been pursuing a target for a long time: to take over the Promised Land. In fact, that word was given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but the Lord’s people had to live a long time in Egypt before that could be fulfilled.

The Promised Land, which Jesus came to give us, symbolized the Gospel. The Hebrews fought people, and we fought demons. Their battle was transitory; ours is eternal and includes everything that has been unveiled for years in the Scriptures to be of God, and preparing us for the Master’s return, when He will come for us.

The presence of evil was in their path as it is in ours. The enemy used people to shake the Israelites, and at other times used the people themselves to rebel against the divine plan. In that way, the devil took advantage to distress the servants of God. With this they did something terrible: they spoke ill of the Lord and of Moses. Never allow restlessness to take hold of you, for it will upset you and lead you to speak inappropriate words.

Many are distressed by a number of things, especially when they are not paying attention to the divine promises. As they get distressed, they blame anyone. If restlessness takes over your spirit, you will not think about your statements, for your emotional state will lead you to judge others and to do what you should never do: speak against the Almighty and thus fall into sin.

At that time, the Israelites did not measure the words and spoke up against God and Moses, asking if they were brought out of Egypt to die in that desert. Why, how stupid! If the Lord had wanted to kill them, He would have done it at the Red Sea crossing, and no one would know why. Moreover, God is love and would never do them any harm.

Now they have reached the height of complaining about God’s care, speaking ill of the manna, the bread that fed and protected them during their walk. In the desert, the conditions that would keep them healthy were very poor. Without water, hygiene was almost nonexistent. For this reason, various foods were banned, but manna provided the nutrients needed to live there. They only had health problems when they sinned.

Calling manna vile bread was the last straw. Given this, the Lord had to make a tough decision, which we will see in the next message. Never let your soul be distressed, but at the first sign of this, seek the Most High and get rid of evil.

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares