Reluctant Believers

God's people continue to have problems being loyal to him.

Numbers 25:1-5 While the Israelites were camped at Acacia Grove, some of the men defiled themselves by having sexual relations with local Moabite women. 2 These women invited them to attend sacrifices to their gods, so the Israelites feasted with them and worshiped the gods of Moab. 3 In this way, Israel joined in the worship of Baal of Peor, causing the LORD's anger to blaze against his people.

4 The LORD issued the following command to Moses: "Seize all the ringleaders and execute them before the LORD in broad daylight, so his fierce anger will turn away from the people of Israel." 5 So Moses ordered Israel's judges, "Each of you must put to death the men under your authority who have joined in worshiping Baal of Peor."

In my recent post we saw that God was in control of situations and protecting his people at times that they didn't even know about. Israel wasn't aware at all that King Balak was trying desperately to have God's chosen people get "unchosen" with a curse from Balaam. The king was desperate to keep his job because he saw the success of the Israelites in recent battles but God never changed his mind about Israel despite the fact that they changed their mind about him.

• God was not reluctant to bless Israel, he went to great lengths in dealing with Balaam to bless Israel and to announce one of the first prophecies about Jesus.      
• Balaam was reluctant to bless Israel, he didn't care about the people he was asked to curse and he was careless about his own life because of the greed in his evil heart.       
• Israel was not reluctant to give in to their neighbors when they received an invitation to join them in worship, despite God's loyalty to them.

In Balaam's last prophecy he told about Israel's amazing future and the coming Messiah but right after he tells about it they are sinning against God the same way their ancestors did at Mt Sinai. I started to compare the two eventsfound in Exodus 32 and Numbers 25.

Comparison of the Rebellions at Sinai and Moab

1. Both of these rebellions took place immediately following a great display of God’s care for His people. 

• At Sinai, He performed miracles to deliver them from Egypt and brought them through the Red Sea. 
• At Moab, He reaffirmed their blessed future by turning Balaam’s intended curse into an amazing blessing.

2. Both of these instances reveal the wickedness of our hearts, our desire to worship but our lack of wisdom about worship, that's why the first of the Ten Commandments told us to worship the one and only real God. 

3. In both instances worshiping false gods led to immorality, the Bible shows us a very strong link between satisfying our desire to worship the wrong way and satisfying our desire for physical pleasures the wrong way.

4. Moses ordered the death penalty in both situations. The reaction of certain people to this command proved their loyalty to God and earned them a special place of service in the temple.

• At Mount Sinai, the Levites' killed the people involved and they were designated as the tribe that the priest would come from. It is important to know that all priests were Levites, but not all Levites were priests, just the Levites that were sons of Aaron.
• At Moab, Phinehas was the zealous priest, a grandson of Aaron, that executed judgment. Moses had just told the judges to judge but before they could start judging somebody comes along and jumps to the front of the line to be executed.

5. What a contrast between Phinehas and his grandfather. Aaron was responsible for bringing judgment on God's people due to his role in the creation of the gold calf but Phinehas quickly reacted to the man's sin and killed the Israelite man and the woman both at the same time. 

As you can see, it only took them one generation to forget about the rebellion at Sinai and do it all over again at Moab, this pattern continued throughout the Old Testament as God's people were reluctant to trust and obey. Breaking the first commandment caused so many deaths in the wilderness and it was the reason that God's people were in exile before Jesus' arrival.

God's People Continue To Be Reluctant

Matthew 11:2-3 John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, "Are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?"

Even a man as great as John the Baptist (Matthew 11:11) was not immune to wavering in his faith when Jesus actions were so confusing. Early in his ministry John stated that his reason for coming was to reveal the Messiah to Israel (John 1:29-31) but he was still overcome with doubt as he sat in prison without any assistance from his cousin. I'm sure that John had no idea how true his words were when he said "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30)

Even the twelve men that gave it all up to follow were not sure about Jesus and struggled with faith even as they were experiencing him in supernatural ways. Jesus did miraculous things that prove his identity but nobody was as sure as the evil spirit that Jesus cast out. The evil spirit knew but a few chapters later the disciples are asking "Who is this man?" (Mark 1:23-28, 4:35-41)

We Are Reluctant Disciples

Even today with all of the evidence we have in God's word:

• We are reluctant to worship properly. It is easy to look back at the people that God chose back in the Old Testament and be amazed that they worshiped wrong after all of their supernatural experiences with God but we are the same.
• We are reluctant to trust and obey. Doing things our way will never measure up to God's ways and his plans, it is so hard to let go of absolutely everything and acknowledge that God is in control, instead we want our way just as much as Balaam and Jonah did. 
• We are reluctant to get rid of our pride. As we look at our evil hearts and see the darkness within, it should help us defeat our pride but instead we embrace it and it is a strong proof that Jesus was right when he told Nicodemus that we love the dark. (John 3:19)

Our own lives prove to us what the Bible shows: the ongoing struggle to trust and obey God. We are just like the people in Scripture, but the good news is that God is just as faithful as He was back then. Their imperfect faith and God's perfect, gracious response to it should be a great source of encouragement for us today when we struggle to fully believe.

The wilderness is still God's classroom where he leads us into situations that give us opportunities to exercise our faith, helping us become less reluctant to believe and trust Him. We will always have room to grow in this area, it's a slow, lifelong process that we can't simply check off of our to-do list and move on.

Mark 9:23-24 "What do you mean, 'If I can'?" Jesus asked. "Anything is possible if a person believes." The father instantly cried out, "I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!"

Just like the believing father that desperately wanted his son to be healed, our belief will always be tested with some degree of unbelief that we should pray to overcome. Despite our imperfections and inconsistant faith, we can expect the same grace and faithfulness that God offered His people long ago as he takes us to the Promised Land.

Rejecting The Promises Of God

God's people still have trust issues that hold them back.

Numbers 13:28-31 But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak! 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan Valley." 

30 But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. "Let's go at once to take the land," he said. "We can certainly conquer it!" 

31 But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. "We can't go up against them! They are stronger than we are!"

One of the main points of God's story in the Bible is the promise of God to take a group of chosen people to a Promised Land. God took his people from the depths of despair in the dark kingdom of Egypt and treated them with great grace and mercy as he lovingly guided them to live in a better place.

God also taught them to live a better way that reflects his values, he paused the trip at Mount Sinai to prepare his people to live in that land in a way that is totally different from the nations around them. Their new kingdom should have been a reflection of God's future kingdom that we are all longing to see but they failed to complete their mission.

But their struggles and failures are very much like ours. We all have the tendency to doubt God's goodness as we focus on our immediate circumstances and we begin to compare ourselves to others and sometimes we even think that the people that are not God's people have a better life.

It seems logical from a human perspective to believe that God's people should be treated the best and have the easy life, but God didn't separate us from the troubles of this life, When the trouble comes we can be tempted to believe the lie that the joys and blessings that God has for his people are somehow inadequate and not worth the sacrifice.

There is a lot that we can learn from God's people in the Old Testament that will help us on our journey across this wilderness that is our temporary home as we move towards the amazing destination that God is preparing for his people.

Travel Tips For The Road To The Promised Land:

Do Not Doubt God's Word 

In Numbers 13:1-3 it looks like it was God's idea for his people to scout out the land and the people that are there but 40 years later when Moses gives final instructions to God's people, it seems like God was just giving the people what they had already asked for.

Deuteronomy 1:21-22 "Look! He has placed the land in front of you. Go and occupy it as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. Don't be afraid! Don't be discouraged! 22 But you all came to me and said, 'First, let's send out scouts to explore the land for us. They will advise us on the best route to take and which towns we should enter."

The Israelites lacked the courage, and faith to take the land that God told them is theirs. After all of the protection that God provided since the plagues way back in Egypt, especially that last one, and after all of the care and protection on the way through the wilderness, they still didn't put their faith in God's word.

Do Not Discourage God's People

Negative talk can be all in your head or it can come from someone around you, we have to remember that it is way too easy to be discouraged and the negative talk that we listen can keep us from listening to God's voice. 

It's bad enough when one person does it but in these verses there is a committee, that's usually a bad sign, this committee was reporting about their research. You could call it opposition research, they found that God was honest about the goodness of the land but, they had a very big "but."

Numbers 13:28 But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak!

Deuteronomy 1:26-28 But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God and refused to go in. 27 You complained in your tents and said, 'The LORD must hate us. That's why he has brought us here from Egypt-to hand us over to the Amorites to be slaughtered. 28 Where can we go? Our brothers have demoralized us with their report. They tell us, "The people of the land are taller and more powerful than we are, and their towns are large, with walls rising high into the sky! We even saw giants there-the descendants of Anak!"'

It only takes one negative voice to stop the work of God but this was the majority of voices in a committee so it would be almost impossible to overcome their recommendation. The negative voices set them back 40 years.

Certainly there must have been other travelers that they met along the way during those 40 years in the wilderness, those people must have been amazed that God didn't get his people to the place that he promised. But it wasn't God that failed, his people still had more to learn about how dependable he is.

Do Not Defy God's Will 

Numbers 14:1-4 Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night. 2 Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. "If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!" they complained. 3 "Why is the LORD taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder! Wouldn't it be better for us to return to Egypt?" 4 Then they plotted among themselves, "Let's choose a new leader and go back to Egypt!"

Everyday God's people are forced to make a choice, will we follow the leader that God has given us or will we elect a new leader and go back to Egypt. Negative people in the church discourage God's people and stir up a rebellion against God's leaders.

Do Not Disobey And Deserve God's Judgement

Numbers 14:10-11 But the whole community began to talk about stoning Joshua and Caleb. Then the glorious presence of the LORD appeared to all the Israelites at the Tabernacle. 11 And the LORD said to Moses, "How long will these people treat me with contempt? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them?"

God showed up with some serious questions for his people, and suddenly his people are concerned about the consequences of their sin. They have always strived to have the easiest life possible and now that they know how God is going to punish them they decide it is better to obey his first command. 

Numbers 14:40-42 Then they got up early the next morning and went to the top of the range of hills. "Let's go," they said. "We realize that we have sinned, but now we are ready to enter the land the LORD has promised us." 41 But Moses said, "Why are you now disobeying the LORD's orders to return to the wilderness? It won't work. 42 Do not go up into the land now. You will only be crushed by your enemies because the LORD is not with you. 

Taking the land isn't an option any longer, since God isn't going with them, they will not have a victory over the Canaanites. They couldn't win no matter what they did, they were sentenced to death in the wilderness but if they rebelled and tried to defeat the Canaanites they would still experience death.

We love the Bible verse that says "If God is for you, who can be against you," but turn that around. If God is against you, it doesn't matter who is for you.

Reacting To God's Will

We need to know and understand God's will: Ephesians 5:17,20 Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to find delight in his will: Psalm 40:8 I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart." We need to whole heartly obey his will: Ephesians 6:6 As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart

I need to appreciate the promises of God and totally trust him to come through no matter what the evidence around me seems to be saying. God gave me the example of our ancestors found in the Bible to help me.

Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?

Help me Lord to grow in faith and obedience to your will despite the fact that what I feel, what I see and what I think may be telling me to doubt your goodness. I want to trust and obey so that you will be glorified.

No Greater Rest

Sabbath rest was just a glimpse of something better that is on the way.

Exodus 20:8-11  “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  9  You have six days each week for your ordinary work,  10  but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you.

11  For in six days the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

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Just about all of us are running on empty and would love to have some time to rest but it seems like none of us are willing to make rest a priority. It seems like it should be an easy command to obey but for most of us resting is the hardest thing to do.

In the beginning God put us in a perfect place of rest in the Garden of Eden but instead of resting in our relationship with him we decided to take Satan's advice. We preferred to put our trust in our own efforts rather than trusting God but instead of improving and becoming a better version of humanity or becoming gods we became much less than we were. As a result we gave up our place of perfect rest in the garden. The Bible is the story of God making a way for us to get back to our rest that can only be found in his presence. 

God promised Abraham that his descendants would live in a place of rest some day, the Promised Land was a place where they would live under God's blessing, but hundreds of years went by as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all passed away waiting for God's timing.

God finally brought his people out of slavery to the kingdom of darkness where they never had any rest. On their way to the land where they should find rest in the land of plenty they sing this song of praise to God after he saved them from Pharaoh:

God Brought Them Out So He Could Bring Them In

Exodus 15:13,17-18 “With your unfailing love you lead the people you have redeemed. In your might, you guide them to your sacred home. 

17 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain— the place, O LORD, reserved for your own dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established. 18 The LORD will reign forever and ever!”

Don't forget that God's children are singing this song out in the wilderness on the shore of the Red Sea. They are celebrating a miraculous victory over Egypt where they were forced to labor but they were nowhere close to the place of rest that God has promised.

They were brought out of the kingdom of darkness and guided to the place where they can reside in God's presence even though they were still standing in the wilderness. What a beautiful picture of the ultimate fulfillment of this reality in the future when God's people will find the perfect rest that we lost in the garden.

Until we get there we need to wrestle with the desire to do everything for ourselves. God's power at work in us and our willingness to rely on him is the way to a peaceful, satisfying life. But most of us see God's word as a bunch of to do list and rule keeping that looks nothing like rest. 

Finding rest seems just as impossible as it must have sounded to the former slaves that Moses led out of Egypt. For hundreds of years they were under the threat of losing their lives if they did not work and now God is telling them that their future depends on their ability to rest in him.

What Is Work? 

It's not a bad question to ask but when you look to man for the answer instead of God you end of with the wrong answer. In their passion to avoid work God's people kept adding to the list of things to avoid doing to the point that the Sabbath became a burden instead of a blessing.

Silly Rabbinical Rules and the True Meaning of Torah

When man adds to God's rules it is usually done with bias and it is done to have control over others. The largest organized religions in the world are famous for adding church rules and traditions on top of the Bible. We have to be careful when we add to the intended purpose of God's rules.

To not work is just the beginning

Isaiah 58:13-14  Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the LORD’s holy day. Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day, and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly. 14 Then the LORD will be your delight. I will give you great honor and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

God centered rest was taught by the prophets in the Old Testament over and over again. God made it so clear that they were doing it wrong, how to do it right and showed them the great benefits for doing it correctly. (Isaiah 56:1-8, Isaiah 58:13-14, Jeremiah 17:21-27, Ezekiel 20:12-26; 22:8, 16, 26, Nehemiah 10:28-31; 13:15-22)

Part of their problem was they were not living to please God the other six days of the week so it would be impossible to be genuine in their observance of the Sabbath.

Micah 6:3,8 “O my people, what have I done to you? What have I done to make you tired of me? Answer me! 8 O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

The unnecessary burdens that the religious leaders placed on the people probably contributed to their tendency to be unfaithful to God and create less demanding gods. The pleasant demand to rest had been replaced with a strict application of the law that was a weapon to control people. (Deuteronomy 10:12, Matthew 23:4, Acts 15:10)

Then comes Jesus, the religious leaders didn't have any idea how to handle someone that seemed to intentionally break their rules, imagine telling Jesus how to obey the Sabbath. It seems that Jesus took the time to break man's Sabbath rules in order to teach them the real Sabbath rules.

Did Jesus Break The Sabbath Law?

The True Sabbath Rest 

Matthew 11:28-29 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Jesus must have felt incredibly misunderstood as he saw the unnecessary burdens that the religious leaders placed on the people. As the people tried to do what was right, their religious leaders only had bad news for them, no matter how hard they tried they were told they were doing it wrong. (Isaiah 58:1-14, Matthew 23:1-39)

Jesus offers us a better opportunity than the law could ever do, instead of resting for a day Jesus offers us a daily rest in him. Only Jesus can release us from the bondage of sin to receive true rest. We can lay down the burden that our conscious puts on us as we feel the weight of our sin. We can lay down the burden of trying to be good enough to be loved.

God's purpose for us on the sabbath is that we experience the highest and most intense joy that can be experienced, namely, that we "take delight in the Lord." And yet what he finds again and again is professing Christians who prefer little human-sized pleasures from things that have no close relation to God at all.

John Piper

We can work as hard as we want everyday of the week but if we will acknowledge that every good thing that we have comes from God's blessing on our lives then we can give up our slavery to our own strength and stamina. We can rest from our labor and trust God that he will provide for tomorrow just as he did today. (Exodus 16:16-26)

The greatest rest that we need can be found only in Jesus. We celebrate the rest that only his work on the cross could make possible, peace with God and the peace of God is available without an effort on our part. (Ephesian 2:8-9, Romans 5:1, Philippians 4:6-8, Revelation 14:13) 

How can a true believer that understands the incredible gift that Jesus has given them fail to rejoice at the beginning of the week for a day focused on celebrating this glorious fact?

Let's focus on delighting in God as we look forward to the day when we reach our final and ultimate Sabbath rest for eternity in his presence.

RELATED ARTICLES

The Eighth Day (baylor.edu)

The Sabbath in Apostolic Preaching and Practice (bible.org)

Remember the Sabbath Day to Keep It Holy (desiringgod.org)

Redeemed And Learning To Trust God

The wilderness will teach us to trust God on the way to our promised land.

Exodus 15:13 “With your unfailing love you lead the people you have redeemed. In your might, you guide them to your sacred home."

Exodus 16:7-10 In the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your complaints, which are against him, not against us. What have we done that you should complain about us?” 8 Then Moses added, “The LORD will give you meat to eat in the evening and bread to satisfy you in the morning, for he has heard all your complaints against him. What have we done? Yes, your complaints are against the LORD, not against us.”

9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Announce this to the entire community of Israel: ‘Present yourselves before the LORD, for he has heard your complaining.’” 10 And as Aaron spoke to the whole community of Israel, they looked out toward the wilderness. There they could see the awesome glory of the LORD in the cloud.

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We recently learned that God's people went from the highest most joyful situation to the most extreme low. One moment the redeemed were rejoicing that they were out of Egypt and the next moment they are regretting that they left. It didn't take long for their memories of the past to look good compared to what they were dealing with at the moment.

God's main goal and purpose for our life is not what we focus on, he doesn't worry about how to provide for our physical necessities, we have the worst time trying to see that God is working and he usually has a good purpose behind our trials.

God was not surprised by any of these circumstances that his people encountered in the wilderness, he showed his power through the plagues and the release of his people from Egypt, he brought thousands of people across the sea on dry ground and had the sea swallow their enemy. 

Despite all of this, there are still questions about God's faithfulness, he should be trusted to continue to help them in the place that he has brought them, but his people have a long way to go in their spiritual journey. This section of the book of Exodus shows us five things that God does to teach us to trust him more. 

How does God provide for our journey home?

1. God test us

God will put you through test to show you what he already knows about you. He already knows what the spiritual MRI is going to show about your heart, he knows about the attitudes, the unbelief and the lack of faith, the test results are for your benefit.

Don't waste the opportunities when you are in the school of faith. It is important that you learn from your test so that you may avoid a retake. When his people grumbled for water the second time they didn't realize that it was a retake and they had failed the test again. (Exodus 15:22-27, 17:1-7)

2. God gives us daily bread 

The sweet bread from Heaven was a foretaste of what they could have when they get to the land of milk and honey. You would think that the promised future that they were reminded of would help them get through the wilderness experience with more finesse.

Having enough to eat today should have helped them trust God with their empty pantries every night. God's rule's stated that they were only allowed to have food in the pantry on the night before the Sabbath, on this one night the food would be preserved for the next day instead of spoiling. (Exodus 16:1-36)

3. God treats us better than we deserve

Praise God that we get what we don't deserve and we don't get what we do deserve! God's goodness to lowly, self righteous, prideful humans is extremely way beyond what we deserve!

The lack of trust started way back in the Garden of Eden and it hasn't gotten any better. It goes against our nature to trust God so each generation has to learn the same lessons that the previous struggled with.

4. God fights for us

The force that God used against their enemies was a foretaste of what he will do when they get to the Promised Land. God will give them victories against mighty forces that they shouldn't to able to defeat without his power. (Exodus 17:8-16, Exodus 14:13)

Anything or any person that weakens your trust in God is your enemy. If it fights against your ability to trust in God and find satisfaction in him then it is pulling you away from him toward something inferior. 

5. God gives wisdom 

An entire nation of selfish people were going to have their share of problems as they make their way to the Promised Land. A multitude of wise counselors would need to help them get along with each other along the way.

Without the wise advise of Jethro, Moses would have burned out and wouldn't have been able to minister to God's people. God's leader was taking on more things, even good things, than he could deal with on a long term basis. (Exodus 18:13-27)

We are too prone to engrave our trials in marble and write our blessings in sand.

-Charles Spurgeon

God knows that his people need to learn to trust him on their way to the Promised Land so that they will trust him in the Promised Land for the new challenges they will face there. They would be so much better off when they arrive at the Jordan River if they would have learned to trust God before they got there.

Looking ahead in the story we know that God's people suffered extreme consequences because they didn't trust him to help them take possession of the land. It's a lesson that God's people still have difficulty with today.

Psalm 95:8-9 The LORD says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah, as they did at Massah in the wilderness. For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw everything I did.

Since God has redeemed us and brought us out of slavery to sin we should know that he will provide for us completely until he takes us home. We are concerned more about our daily bread but God wants to focus on growing our trust in him.

Help me Lord to focus on the awesome things that you have done for me and your promises for my future. You gave me an abundant amount of evidence in my past to prove that I should trust you completely until I am home in eternity with you.

RELATED ARTICLES

Raining Bread from Heaven (bible.org)

Extreme Giving

Do you give from your surplus or is it a true sacrifice?

Habakkuk 3:17-19 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD!

I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! 19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.

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Habakkuk chapter three doesn't make sense to anyone that has not established a personal relationship with God. If your circumstances are as bad as Habakkuk was facing would you have any reason to rejoice in tribulation? Would you be able to trust God's plan and purpose for your life?

Trusting God when it doesn't make sense is probably the most difficult when it comes to giving away a portion of what you have when you seem to have so little or when it isn't clear how much you will have.

In the Old Testament law God's people were required to bring a first fruit offering to the temple. This offering required a level of trust because you were giving a sacrifice at the beginning of the harvest before you knew how much you would earn. (Leviticus 23:14)

This idea of giving before we get is very foreign to us, we want to give after the paycheck or the bonus comes in, but the Bible teaches that our giving should show that we trust God to take care of us regardless of our financial circumstances.

Give Sacrificially

Mark 12:43-44 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. 44 For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”

Jesus told his disciples that the poor widow at the temple was the best giver that day while he was in the temple. Her gift was a true sacrifice that created a financial struggle that none of the other people experienced that day.

Looking back at Habakkuk's situation, the country was in full economic collapse, their wealth had disappeared, the ability to provide for their families was destroyed and the possibility of having a meal on any given day was bleak.

Giving sacrificially requires that you give until it hurts, your giving should make you a little bit uncomfortable, and your lifestyle should be affected by your giving. Is your giving really a generous sacrifice? If you are only giving from your surplus then what happens when the surplus is gone?

Give Joyfully

Deuteronomy 26:8-11 So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and powerful arm, with overwhelming terror, and with miraculous signs and wonders. 9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land flowing with milk and honey! 10 And now, O LORD, I have brought you the first portion of the harvest you have given me from the ground.’ Then place the produce before the LORD your God, and bow to the ground in worship before him. 11 Afterward you may go and celebrate because of all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household. Remember to include the Levites and the foreigners living among you in the celebration.

In the teachings about the first fruit offering they didn't just drop their offering in the collection box and walk away. Their offering was given joyfully with a testimony about the one that provided the offering.

We give our money cheerfully to the things that we are passionate about, it doesn't matter what your interest is, you will spend money easily on those things that you love the most. You will have to be careful not to spend too much on those things.

What do you treasure so much that you can effortlessly give money to? Do you give as cheerfully to God as you do to your earthly pleasures?

Give Graciously 

2 Corinthians 8:2-3  They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.  3  For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will.

When you give your time, treasure or your talents to God it becomes part of God's grace to others. God didn't bless me so that I can accumulate the blessings and keep them to myself, I have been blessed so that I can introduce the people that I bless to my loving God who provided for me.

When God's people share their blessings we fulfill our mission here on earth, our blessings help bring charity, good works and justice to our hurting world. Our giving will help us be better ambassadors for our Savior who was the most extreme giver.

I need to be faithful to give even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD!

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Who Will You Trust?

God has a plan and a purpose for everything that comes into your life.

Habakkuk 2:4  “Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.

Habakkuk 2:14-16  For as the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of the LORD.

15  “What sorrow awaits you who make your neighbors drunk! You force your cup on them so you can gloat over their shameful nakedness.  16  But soon it will be your turn to be disgraced. Come, drink and be exposed! Drink from the cup of the LORD’s judgment, and all your glory will be turned to shame.

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Habakkuk cries out in desperation and asks God why he isn't doing something to end the evil and injustice that surrounds him. He is tired of the oppressive evil and injustice that he sees in the nation that is supposed to be God's chosen people. How can God allow his people to go on this way?

But when God replies, Habakkuk has to ask God if he really knows what he is doing, how can a notoriously more evil people be used to judge God's people that are less evil? (Habakkuk 1:12-17)

Habakkuk was waiting for an answer from God to help him understand what he is doing. God let's him know that Babylon will be judged and it will be more devastating than the judgment of God's people that Babylon is bringing.

We have to decide to trust and accept that God has a plan and a purpose for every good and bad thing that comes into our life.

Look at the proud! They trust in themselves.

In Habakkuk chapter two we can see that pride is at the center of the sins of the Babylonian culture. It's the same with us today, we long for acceptance and approval so we seek our own glory instead of God's, we never learn that self gratification never works.

Pride will leave us empty and always striving for more, we can win a contest, get a trophy and a lot of applause but when the attention fades away we are still looking for approval and acceptance. We can be like the Babylonians, we can conquer the world, but we will not find satisfaction unless we continue to exploit, abuse and conquer someone or something else.

Pride is a strange creature; it never objects to its lodgings. It will live comfortably enough in a palace, and it will live equally at its ease in a hovel. Is there any man in whose heart pride does not lurk?

-Spurgeon

The Babylonians sins are our sins, our evil culture looks too much like theirs, obviously we are slow learners because the history of sin continues to be repeated as we continue to do the same things that they did:

• Selfish ambition (Habakkuk 2:6-8), 
• Greed (Habakkuk 2:9-11), 
• Exploit people (Habakkuk 2:12-14), 
• Drunkenness and violence (Habakkuk 2:15-17) 
• Idolatry (Habakkuk 2:18-20).

Everybody that rejects God to live for themselves is going to keep doing the same sins and be shocked when they don't get a different result.

The righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.

God's righteous people will admit that he is still in control and no matter what happens he never leaves his throne. God sees everything that we are going through just as he did in the Bible, look how many godly people went through extremely difficult experiences without losing faith.

It is difficult to understand that God is in control but scripture also tells us that we are responsible for our choices. In our minds it is an apparent contradiction that we cannot resolve, it is true that God is in control but it is equally true that we are not puppets and we get to choose because we have free will.

The righteous won't manipulate and use people, they won't look at others and think about what that person can do for them. I can treat people better because my glory and honor comes from God and his love and applause are all that should matter to me.

Habakkuk 2:20  But the LORD is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him.”

I need to stop complaining when difficult times come my way because he sends them for his purpose and his glory. I will trust God to take care of me and work everything out for my good because of his great love for me and my great love for him. (Romans 8:28)

I need to love God in all of his glory and allow him to remove my pride, I need to trust in his power and allow him to be my source of honor and glory.