FBC Daily Devotional – June 9, 2021

Faith Baptist Church

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Well, a good Wednesday to you. We are in the middle of the week and the middle of the first full week of the month of June and today

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June 9th, so we're almost a third of the way through first month of summer.

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Oh my, don't you, don't you just feel sometimes like you know, time just flees.

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It just flees. Hey, you know what? It does, doesn't it? It sure does. Well today in our scripture reading, we're reading in Numbers, the book of Numbers chapters 32 and 33 and in chapter 32, we have the account of the two tribes of Reuben and Gad who come to Moses and ask if they could have the land on the east side of the

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Jordan River. They conquered these couple of kings, you know, Og and the king of Moab and king of Bashan.

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And so they, you know, these two tribes say, hey, you know these, the land over here is wonderful for livestock.

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We've got tons of livestock. So can we just have this land? Now, let's remember the

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Lord didn't promise that. The Lord promised the western side of the

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Jordan River, the land of Canaan. He promised all that to the tribes and for the land to be divided up among them and so forth.

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We've heard reports in the earlier reading, you know, 40 years earlier, 38 years earlier now, or nine, about how good this land was for all, the land of promise for raising families, etc, etc, providing all the needs.

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So it was really kind of interesting that these two tribes came and suggested this and I think, it seems to me, that when you read this, initially these two tribes approached

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Moses about this land and they, they didn't seem to have any intention of crossing over the

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Jordan at all, to go with their tribal brothers and fight to help conquer the land of Canaan.

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It seems that initially, in their initial request, that they were just going to be content to stay on the east side of the

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Jordan River, build cities, build places for their livestock and carry on with life and have a great life.

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Until Moses confronts them. He said, wait a minute now, wait, hold on just a minute. You're, you're gonna do this and the rest of us are, the rest of your brothers are gonna cross the river and they're gonna go through who knows how long a time of fighting, trying to conquer the land over there while you sit here and are at ease.

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This doesn't seem right and so in that confrontation, after that confrontation, then the two tribes acquiesce and two and a half tribes actually, because half of Manasseh got into this too, but they acquiesced and it's okay.

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Yeah yeah, we'll, we'll go and fight, we'll fight until the end, but it seems initially that wasn't the spirit, that they didn't offer that.

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They didn't offer that up front. It was only after Moses confronted him with it, did they say, oh, yeah, well, okay.

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Yeah, we'll do that as long as we can have this land. Now, I wonder, you know, I read that and I kind of a bit convicted myself as I read that and wondered, you know, how many times do

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I make decisions? How many times do we make decisions in our lives the same way? All about me.

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All about me. I don't, don't think through how is this going to affect other people around me?

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How's this going to affect my immediate family? How's this going to affect my spouse? What about my children?

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What about my, what about my church family? How will this affect my church family?

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How about the, the place of employment where I've been serving for all this time?

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If I, if I follow through on this decision, will, will my family, will my church family, will, will

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I end up causing terrible discouragement? Is it necessary to do so?

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Am I going to hinder somebody or some, you know, my loved ones from growing spiritually?

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Now, I ask that question because, for example, I've known people in my pastoral experience years who, you know, somebody, a guy's presented, a guy, the husband is presented with a job offer, job opportunity to transfer to another place and he doesn't, he's not required to do so.

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It's just an opportunity to do so. And he looks at the opportunity and he sees, oh, you know, I can make 15 % more income and I'll have a better position with a company and so forth and and it's about all they consider.

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Doesn't stop to think about, doesn't stop to think about what, what kind of churches are around where you're going?

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Is there a good church home that you can get a part, become a part of in that move?

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And what about, what about the impact on your children and where they are in their stage of life?

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You know, I've seen a lot of kids who end up getting uprooted at the whim of a, no,

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I shouldn't say a whim. That's a little too, a little too harsh. But at the decision of a dad because he wants to make more money, he wants to have a better position and yet, you know, the children, there are children at a very crucial stage in their lives and to uproot them can be very, can be very harmful.

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So those are things that have to be thought through. But if, if our decision -making is kind of like Reuben and Gad, where we're just thinking about what's in, what's, what's in our best interest.

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Now, I do have to take my hat off to Reuben and Gad. They were thinking about their families too, you know, and that this was a good place for their, to raise their kids.

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It was safe and all the rest, that kind of thing. But I'm talking about their extended family. I'm talking about their, their church family, if you will, you know, the rest of the, the nation of Israel.

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Moses had to confront him about that, had to get him to think about that. And, and I think it's worth, worth considering.

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We have to look at all of the angles, take everything into consideration. And you know, one of the things that may come into play is a work that needs to be brought to completion before I can actually feel free to move on.

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So like with Reuben and Gad, the half -tribe of Manasseh, there was a work that they had to complete.

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They had to go with the rest of the tribes into the land of Canaan, help them conquer the land of Canaan. Then they could go back to the east side of the

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Jordan and settle down. So that's also a factor to think about. Is there an unfinished task?

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If I make this decision now. So, I hope that's some food for thought.

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Anyway, challenge me as I read it. So Father, give us wisdom in making our decisions.

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And I pray that you would deliver us from the kind of selfishness that only looks into, looks at things in, from the standpoint of what's, what's in it for me.

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What's best for me. Help us to take others into consideration as well, we pray. We ask it in Jesus' name.

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Amen. All right, we'll have a good rest of your hump day. If you're available to get out to the midweek service, meet together this evening at Faith Baptist at 7 o 'clock for that time of Bible study and prayer.

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Hope to see you then. Otherwise, look forward to joining with you in the devotional time tomorrow.