Ed Algreen shares today’s Blog designed to help you know Christ and your world better.  

DATE WRITTEN: Friday, 2021-06-11
WRITTEN AT: Unadilla, GA

SCRIPTURE FROM: Numbers 11:11-15
TRANSLATION: The Voice (VOICE)

BIBLE TEXT: 11 Why are You so hard on me? I am your devoted servant. Why don’t You look on me with affection? Why do I have the great burden of these spiteful people? 12 Did I conceive them, bear them, and give birth to them? Why should You tell me to carry them—as a nanny does some suckling infant—into the land that You swore to their ancestors? 13 And now, where am I supposed to find meat to feed this crowd crying out that I give them food to eat? 14 I simply cannot keep carrying them along. They are way too heavy. 15 If You plan to treat me like this, then just kill me now. If You care about me at all, just put me out of my misery so I do not have to live out this distress.

OBSERVATION: To plug a lamp into an electrical outlet and expect anything but power for the light bulb, is a useless situation. However, you can’t take that same electrical cord and meet any other need in your life, only Jesus Christ can. After following God’s command in leading the Israelites, we are reminded in our Scripture today what happened when Moses looked inward and started to feel like it may have been something He did, instead of teh miraculous hand of God. Unfortunately, we too may be guilty of the problem Moses displayed, way too often. Yes, even you, my friend!

APPLICATION: Did Moses think that he could touch the end of the power cord mentioned in my overview, and provide power to that dumb lamp that just sits there until it receives power before it would illuminate? Perhaps! But don’t we sometimes become like Moses and think that we are a privileged child of God and we could move mountains? There were so many times that God showed His power to Moses – through the plagues that convinced Pharaoh to let the Israelites go; through the opening of a road along the sea bed when Moses stood at a crossroads on how he would lead over a million people to safety from the onset of a mighty army; through the manna that was provided for daily food when the people stood in question of how they would receive sustenance; through the awesome hand of God in providing water when Moses was told to strike a rock with his staff; etc. Yet in our Scripture today, we read where Moses started to place way too much pressure on himself to meet the impossible tasks needed for the huge crowd he was leading. Perhaps he felt like there was some powerful act that he did, that contributed to the miracles of God. Don’t you dare get down on Moses, for we tend to do the same thing today. We ask God to bless us with a child, then we do our best to set questionable goals for ourselves as parents, and for our child. Then we wonder what went wrong, and why is God punishing that which He blessed us with. As leaders of our churches, we seek God’s will to lead our church into successful ministries to win the lost for His kingdom. Then we look around and see how churches around us are growing in numbers, and we take the reigns from the Master of the church, and try implementing our own worldly techniques and ideas. Soon, we see where success is very temporal and our church starts to fall apart again. Don’t we then tend to blame God for leading us down the wrong path? Friends, you will find that God had a plan for the Israelites and He used His leader through rigorous exercises to follow His plan. However, in today’s Scripture we could see where the human instincts started to kick in for Moses as he tried claiming credit for their success and questioning God as to why is He not doing more for this single leader of such a large nation of people. What if Moses would have given God full credit for everything accomplished and every step they took, and then accused God for not doing it right. Anyone could then see that Moses was off on the wrong tangent, right? So Moses started to bring attention to himself and his inabilities, as he sought pity from God. This is so indicative of us when we see that the things of God are not going the way that we feel they should. It’s everyone else’s fault, and it may even be God’s fault. We just need someone to blame the lack of success on. Oh that we might be reminded today that God created this world without our help, He created human beings in His own likeness, and He is actively involved each day in the lives of those who place their faith and trust in Him. In all things, worship the Lord thy God and be ready to praise Him for His goodness. As His servant, God may decide to include you or I in His work, but it’s still Him who does the work, and always Him who receives the praise for His masterful design, direction and work among His people. There is no need to feel sorry for yourself, let go and let God do His work among His people. Always be ready to celebrate in honor and praise to our King, the source of all power, knowledge, wisdom and grace.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Although feeling sorry for himself, Moses consulted God because he knew that only God could do the miraculous acts already performed among His people, the Israelites. God allowed Moses to be His hands and feet among the people, but all the while it was God who was the power source behind every miracle and through each day’s activity.

PRAYER: Precious Lord, it is so easy for us to see the fault with Moses. Oh that we might learn a great lesson from this story – that it is You who created us and the world we enjoy, and it is only You who could continue to direct us and help us to stand firm in our faith while all the while pointing others to the cross. Nothing of ourselves is worthy of praise, but in Christ alone I take my stand and lift up my hands in worship, praise and endless thanksgiving. Please draw this wicked world to Yourself, Lord, and please continue to bless Your children so that others will be drawn to the source of our strength, love and wisdom. AMEN!