In Numbers 26, God commands another census to determine the number of men available to go out to war in Israel. This time, however, God would also use the results of the census to divide up the land and provide an inheritance accordingly. When comparing the census results from the first census to the second census, we see a small change in numbers. During this time of wandering about in the wilderness, God has cleaned house. God made good on his promise – there was not a man left from the first census except for Caleb and Joshua.
In todays passage, we see an example of the faith of this new generation through the story of the daughters of Zelophehad. Under current laws, because Zelophehad had no sons, his family would not receive a portion of the inherited land. These girls boldly stood before Moses and in faith, asked for their inheritance. This is a big change from the previous generation who was so busy romanticizing the past that they just wanted to go back to Egypt. These women had faith that God could & would deliver on his promise to his people and they didn’t want to be left out due to the current laws of inheritance.
Here’s the thing that I love about this story – if those girls had not asked, they might have lost out on their inheritance. These girls could have just accepted their situation and lost out on their inheritance, but God honored their faith and rewrote the laws of inheritance. How often we forget that God longs to bless us. Isaiah 30:18 says “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice.” Sometimes, we feel like we are already so blessed (because we generally are) that we shouldn’t bother God with anything else. Sometimes we might even feel like He’s tired of hearing from us. But the Bible says that we should take everything to the Lord in prayer. He does not tire from hearing from us. Especially when we ask Him for something that He already wants to give us. Psalm 37:4 says – “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you all the desires of your heart”. I’m not talking "name it and claim it" prosperity prayer. Here's what Matthew Henry says about this verse: “He has not promised to gratify the appetites of the body, and the humours of the fancy, but the desires of the renewed, sanctified soul.” If we are in a relationship with God, the desires of our heart change in accordance to His will. The prayer life of a “renewed and sanctified soul” looks a lot different than the prayer life of one who does not walk with God.
A couple of other verses about prayer:
Ephesians 6:18 - “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests”,
Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”
Don’t be afraid to go to Him. He wants a relationship with you. He is our Provider, our Defender and our Counselor and He longs to bless us and fill the desires of our renewed and sanctified soul! You can place your desires safely before the Lord!
Today's post submitted by Kelly Coxe
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Amen! I have a wonderful roommate that often reminds me "to pray about it" no matter how small or large the problem/issue.
ReplyDeleteIn our Bible study class at 2nd we've seen some fine answers to prayers lately: salvation of one ones, new job employments, financial blessings, good news on medical reports just to name a few. One of the ladies in the study testified about a month ago about her 9 year old son. The doctors said he had a hole in his heart. They ran several tests and told her they would have to do surgery. As you can imagine, it got our whole class praying for the situation. They sent her son to heart specialists to prepare for the surgery and upon examination, he said, "There nothing wrong with your son, go home!" Like Kelly is saying, sometimes we have not because we aren't asking! Jesus taught us to ask and to keep on asking, to knock and keep on knocking until we get an answer to our request. Sometimes it may not be what we want to hear but that is why He is Lord and we are just servants.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff today, Kelly!!
ReplyDelete**I have a strange request for myself, for whomever happens to read this-->Dr. Deloach and Chris Martin are teaching a class on prayer, which just started this past Sunday.
Our assignment for the remainder of this week-->Not to ask for anything(no petitions). Instead, we are simply to let God be God.
I urge anybody who may be interested to attend.
The knowledge will be very profound-->For example, David's writing of the 121st Psalm actually is a re-hash of Deuteronomy chapter 28, which is from the writings of Moses, as he wrote the Torah. Verses 3 through 8 are very interesting.
Chris Martin pointed out the other side of prayer, conversely from petitioning, is to just let God be God....
**Please pray for me to make it through the week WITHOUT ASKING THE LORD FOR ANYTHING; BUT INSTEAD, IN MY DAILY PRAYERS, SIMPLY TO THANK HIM FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE AND WHAT HE WILL DO.
Peace and love!!!
I heard this saying it always stuck with me on prayer. God gave us the privilege of prayer so we can participate with Him on what He wants to do among us. God desires for us to be participators not mere spectators. I heard this saying it always stuck with me on prayer. Like God desires to do something so He puts it in the heart of His children to pray. He then answers the prayer and God is gloried and we are blessed to see Him moving among us. God gave us prayer so He could give us answers to prayers. My problem is most of the time I'm praying, I really don't believe I'm praying to the Living God but rather it becomes just a routine ritual void of faith or expectation for an answer. God help me!!!
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