Thurs.’s Devo - Great is the Lord!

Read: Numbers 14:1-15:16; Mark 14:53-72; Psalm 53:1-6; Proverbs 11:4 After receiving the bad news about the giants in their land, the people were totally discouraged and angry. They blamed Moses and God for bringing them all this way just to be killed and their children taken as slaves. Joshua and Caleb tried to encourage them that God would help them take the land but their hearts were hardened against them. God showed up at the Tabernacle to talk to Moses. God wanted to kill all the people and make Moses into a great nation. Moses begged the Lord not to do that since the nations of the world were all watching. They had all heard about how the Lord had delivered them from the Egyptians and what would it look like if God killed them all in the wilderness? For his name sake, God needed to take them into the land. God promised not to kill them all, but the adults would all die in the wilderness. Their children would be taken into the land. They would enjoy what their parents despised. The ten spies that brought back a bad report died of a plague. God promised that Caleb and Joshua would live to enter into the land. In fact, when they did enter the land, Caleb asked for the land where they had seen the giants. He was not afraid of anything standing in God’s way. We are standing at the same place the Israelites stood and God is wanting to know if we are willing to take our land back. If we cower in fear of the Deep State or Cabal or whatever you call them, we will lose our land. God has given us America to make his name great and we must not be afraid. Greater is He who is in us, than he who is in the world. When the people heard what the Lord had said they were filled with grief. Some of them decided to enter anyway and were defeated because God was not with them. God gave them instructions for the sacrifices they should offer when they got to the land. In Mark, Jesus had been led to the high priest’s house where a mock trial was being held. The leading priests and the Sanhedrin were trying to find evidence against Jesus so they could have a reason to put him to death. Jesus was innocent but they were trying to prove him guilty. Jesus refused to testify for himself. When they asked him if he was the Messiah, Jesus said “I am and you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.” The high priest tore his robe and cried, “Blasphemy.” He declared Jesus guilty. They spit on him and attacked him with their words and their fists. Peter was sitting by the fire in the courtyard below when three times he was asked if he associated with Jesus and three times he denied it. When the rooster crowed the last time, Peter remembered what Jesus had said and broke down and cried. Lord, may we not cower in fear but stand strong knowing that you are with us to do great things and to win.