FBC Morning Light – March 14, 2023

Another good Tuesday morning. Today we're reading in the book of Numbers, chapters 27 -28, Luke chapter 8, and then Psalm 52. I want to focus on just a couple of verses in Numbers 27. They're really kind of a heart-wrenching couple of verses.

The Painful Consequences of Sin in a Parent’s Heart

Let me ask you this, if you're a parent, have you ever experienced this? Have you ever had to stand by and watch while one of your children endured some very painful consequences to their disobedience or some way their transgression?

Maybe your child got in trouble at school and they had to, they got some kind of punishment for it, and it was very, very difficult, very difficult for them, very painful. They got suspended from school or something of that nature.

Maybe younger, a younger age child, they were denied some privilege that they were looking forward to, expecting to do something and looking forward to it with great anticipation, great enthusiasm, but then they disobeyed you in a very serious way, and as a consequence of that disobedience you said, you know what, we're not going to do that, I'm not going to take you there, we're not going to do that special thing, and they just fell apart.

Your parent's heart, you wanted to kind of go back on your stated consequence of the transgression. Your parent's heart, you didn't want to see your child go through that discipline at school, and yet you also knew that it was necessary, it was right, it was just for them to experience those consequences.

Well, that's what's going on here in Numbers 27 in verses 12 and following. The background to this is there were two occasions when the people of Israel complained in the wilderness because they didn't have anything to drink.

More than one, more than two occasions, but these two specific occasions that I'm speaking of. The first time that that occurred, Moses went to the Lord and said, what am I supposed to do, and the Lord told him to take the staff, that staff that he threw down on the ground and it would turn into a snake, and take that staff and strike a rock, and from that rock would gush forth water.

That was the first time. Moses did that, he struck the rock, water was provided, miraculously provided by the Lord for his people, his complaining, bellyaching people. But then a second time this occurred, quite some time later, and the people were ready to stone Moses, they were angry with him and all the rest of this, and Moses was angry with them.

Moses was angry because they kept complaining to him. They were a hard bunch of people to deal with, and he was just fed up with them. He goes to the Lord and says, what am I supposed to do, and the Lord said, go to the rock and speak to the rock.

He was very clear, speak to the rock and it will provide water. Moses went out from that encounter with the Lord and he was still angry at the people, he was angry at the situation, and he said to the people, how long do we have to put up with you?

Why do I have to keep getting this stuff for you, that I must get this water for you? Then in his anger, he hit the rock like he had done the first time he hit the rock. The Lord graciously still provided water for the people, but he told Moses, you deliberately disobeyed me.

You didn't honor me in this. You did all of this out of your own flesh. You honored yourself in this. Consequently, Moses, you're not going to enter into the promised land. You're not going to go. That's the background.

Moses Sees the Promised Land but Cannot Enter

Now, at the end of Numbers, the people of Israel are getting close to entering into the promised land. Moses is still leading them, and in this chapter, verse 12, it says, the Lord said to Moses, go up into this Mount Abiram and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel.

Go up on the mountain, and from that vantage point, you'll be able to have a view of the land that I'm going to give to Israel. He says, and when you have seen it, he said, you're going to be gathered to your people, as Aaron was also gathered.

You're going to die. You're going to die. Because, he says, in the wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against my command to hallow me at the waters before their eyes.

So, I'm giving you an opportunity to see the land, but you're not going to experience the land. Now, this was very difficult for Moses. This was heartbreaking for him, and you can imagine, for 40 years, he's been leading these people through this wilderness time, heading toward this land of promise.

If, 38 years earlier, they had entered the land when God initially brought them to it, if they had obeyed the Lord, if they had trusted the Lord like they should have, Moses would have led them right in, but no, they disobeyed, so he's leading them through for 38, 40 years total, he's leading the people through this wilderness.

Now, it comes to the place of experiencing the promised blessing, and Moses, he can't experience it. Why? Because of the consequence of one very serious transgression. Oh, from a parent's heart, we look at that situation and we say, oh man, I would love to turn that around for him.

I would love to, if God would go back on that and allow him to go in after all. But no, this was a necessary thing, this was a just thing, this was the right thing, that Moses have to endure this grief, this pain.

God’s Forgiveness and the Painful Consequences of Sin

You know, God is a gracious God to forgive, as we saw yesterday in Psalm 51, but the consequences for our sin are not always easy to deal with. They can be very, very painful. If you're a parent, you know that, you experience that, you see the pain on your child's face and you feel the pain yourself.

Sin hurts, let's not forget that. Our Father and our God, I pray that that would be driven home in our hearts today, because as it is, it motivates us all the more to be faithful, to be obedient, to walk with you.

I pray that we would deliver us from the heartache of sin that hurts so desperately, we pray in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Well, all right, listen, have a good Tuesday. I hope the Lord will bless you in it.

Good day.