Tuesday 5 Apr 2022

April 5: Numbers 21:1-3

Key Verse: Numbers 21:3
The Lord listened to Israel’s plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named Hormah.

Devotion:
When you read verses like these in your bible, what goes through your head? Do you think “how barbaric!” Do you think “how can they ask God to wipe out other people?” By modern standards we may well think of things like this, but we only have to look on our doorsteps to see how the world is continuing to act in these ways; take the war between Russia and Ukraine… In the West we may be thinking we are safe being away from everything, but we can see the repercussions hitting our economy and our lifestyles all around the world!

It is humankind who gets it all wrong and starts the wars. It is humankind who takes out their frustrations and hatred on other humans! It is not God who is doing this! We lift up our prayers to Him and He answers in the best way possible. We plead for safety; and the only safety may be retaliation. We plead for peace and the only peace may come after a full-blown war which shows the people the horrific side of hatred!

When we say we want to make a deal with God, He is going to keep us at our word. We have to be willing to carry out our promises or deals with Him. He is answering our prayers because we are the ones asking for these things. I have learned not to be over-zealous with my requests from God because I know He listen to me and I know He answers me. If I go ahead and ask for something terrible, I will have to live with the consequences of everything I have asked for.

God wants us to be aware of what we ask for and to always keep our hearts open to the people around us and not just ourselves. When Jesus reminded us to love one another, it did not mean love some people because they are nice to us – that does not spread peace, that causes wars!

Points to Ponder:
What do you ask from God?

Are you really willing to put up with the consequences?