Sunday, March 14, 2010

An Overcoming Christian part 4

Numbers 14:9-10 Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. [10] But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.

Continuing with the acrostic for Caleb’s name we come to E.

Exasperation
1 a: to excite the anger of: enrage b: to cause irritation or annoyance to
2 obsolete: to make more grievous: aggravate

Take a minute to picture what is going on as the Israelites are traveling to the promise land. I repeat, “the promised land”, the land promised by God. God always keeps His promises.

Caleb knew God was faithful and would keep the promise. Caleb said “we are well able to overcome”. Apparently the Israelites did not have the same faith as Caleb. The Israelites did not realize they were traveling to the “promised land”.

Caleb pleaded with them not to rebel against the Lord. He told them not to fear the people; they are like bread for us. We can eat them up or in other words defeat them with no problems because God is with us. Caleb was trying to comfort and encourage the Israelites. I’m sure Caleb was getting exasperated with the people. The people would not listen, they wanted to stone Caleb. The reason probably was, if we kill him we won’t have to listen to him.

The end of verse 10 says, “the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.” God intervened just before the congregation stoned Caleb. Adam Clarke said, “This timely appearance of the Divine glory prevented these faithful servants of God from being stoned to death by this base and treacherous multitude.” Talk about divine protection.

Are there circumstances in your life that exasperate you? Do you trust God for an answer to the situation? The answer does not always come right away.

What about us, are we more like Caleb or the Israelites. I hate to admit it, but more times than not I’m more like the Israelites. God has taught me a few things that I would like to share.

We need to wait on the Lord.
Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. Psalm 27:14

I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. Psalm 130:5


We need to trust Him with our all.
Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah. Psalm 62:8

The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. Psalm 18:2


Don’t let your exasperation (anger) control you.
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. Psalm 37:8

Use Caleb as your example and speak gently.
A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. Proverbs 15:1

Keep your anger in check.
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. Proverbs 16:32

Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. Ecclesiastes 7:9

We need to put off some things.
But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Colossians 3:8

When we put something off we need to put something on.
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Ephesians 4:24

Can you see why I think Caleb is a super hero? He had complete control, but the control came from knowing Whom He served.

Have a great day.
Donna

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