Tues.’s Devo - Our Report

Read: Numbers 11:24-13:33; Mark 14:22-52; Psalm 52:1-9; Proverbs 11:1-3 Moses went out to the people and told them that they would have meat the next day even though he had no idea how it would happen. The Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses and gave the 70 appointed men His Spirit. They began too prophesy. Two of the 70 appointed had not come to the Tabernacle and yet the Spirit found them and fell upon them in their camp. They began to prophesy and Moses was told about it. Joshua told Moses to make them stop but Moses recognized that this was God’s doing and refused to be jealous because God had shared his Spirit with him. The two men’s names were Eldad and Medad which mean “God has loved” and “would be loving”. It think they stand for all the ones who would come in the future that God would love and put his Spirit upon. Then God sent a wind that blew the quail that were migrating from Egypt to their camp. From what my commentary said, these were huge birds not like the little quail we hunt. The people gathered no less than 50 bushels a piece. While they were eating and gorging themselves on the meat, God got angry and struck them with a severe plague. They had lusted for the meat of Egypt more than the bread of heaven. Jealousy seems to be a theme in today’s reading. Miriam and Aaron were jealous of Zipporah’s position and power. They criticized Moses because he had married her and now that they had a governing body other than Moses, they felt they could voice their dissatisfaction. God settled the matter. He called Moses, Aaron and Miriam to the Tabernacle and God came down in the cloud and spoke to Aaron and Miriam. He pointed out that he spoke to his prophets through dreams and visions but he spoke to Moses face to face and why were they not afraid to criticize him. Miriam immediately got leprosy. Aaron cried out to Moses and Moses cried out to the Lord to stop. God replied that she needed to stay outside of the camp for seven days and then she could come back in. After the week, they traveled to the wilderness of Param and were on the outskirts of Canaan. The Lord told Moses to send 12 spies into the land to explore it. He sent one man from each tribe. They were to see what kind of land it was, whether the campus were protected by walls or not, if the soil was fertile. They were to notice the trees and bring back samples of the crops which just happened to be grape harvest. They went and explored the land and brought back grape clusters to large it had to be carried on a pole between tow men. They also bought back pomegranates and figs. After 40 days, they returned to camp. They came back with their report about how wonderful the land was but how big the people were. Only Caleb and Joshua wanted to take the land and knew that they could conquer it. The other spies spread bad news to the people. In Mark, Jesus had communion with his disciples explaining that the bread represented his body and the wine represented his blood. This would be his last supper on earth and his next would be in the kingdom of God. They sang a hymn and went to the Mount of Olives to pray. On the way he told them that God would strike the Shepherd and the sheep would be scattered talking about them. Then he told them that when he was raised from the dead, he would meet them in Galilee. Peter tells him he won’t scatter and Jesus told him he would deny him three times before the rooster crows twice. Peter couldn’t believe that. Jesus set his disciples in a place and he went alone to pray for the suffering he knew he was facing to be taken from him but he wanted most of all to do his father’s will. Jesus went and checked on his disciples and found them asleep three times. He was about to tell them to just sleep when he saw his betrayers coming. Judas was with the priests and religious leaders. He kissed Jesus, they grabbed him and Peter slashed off one of the men’s ears with his sword. Jesus asked them why they hadn’t arrested him in day light. The disciples scrammed and a man in linen was grabbed but all they got was his linen garment. He ran away naked. I always wonder if he wasn’t a watcher from God’s priesthood in heaven. I feel like the Body of Christ is getting weary because they are not seeing what they thought they would see. They are losing hope. We can not lose hope just because we are seeing the opposite of what we want to see. Faith is believing what is unseen and that is the essence of our belief in God. We believe that He is because He said “I AM.” Lord, strengthen your Body and give it hope and rest. It was unbelief that kept the children of Israel from entering into their rest. I pray that we don’t miss entering into your rest. May our report of Your goodness be pleasing to You.