Transcript Document

Wandering
Chapter 6
How do you
respond to
hardship?
Is the arm
of the Lord
too short?
Numbers 11:23 (NIV)
23 The LORD answered Moses,
“Is the LORD’s arm too short?
Now you will see whether or
not what I say will come true
for you.”
In every
hardship you
face in life, will
you trust God to
get you through?
Deuteronomy 8:2 (NIV)
2 Remember how the LORD
your God led you all the way
in the wilderness these forty
years, to humble and test you
in order to know what was in
your heart, whether or not
you would keep his
commands.
Deuteronomy 8:3 (NIV)
3 He humbled you, causing
you to hunger and then
feeding you with manna,
which neither you nor your
ancestors had known, to
teach you that man does not
live on bread alone but on
every word that comes from
the mouth of the LORD.
Do you see every
trial you face as a
test:
“What is in
your heart?”
Numbers 11:1 (NIV)
1 Now the people complained
about their hardships.
Numbers 11:4 (NIV)
4 The rabble with them began
to crave other food, and
again the Israelites started
wailing and said, “If only we
had meat to eat!
Numbers 12:1 (NIV)
1 Miriam and Aaron began to
talk against Moses because of
his Cushite wife, for he had
married a Cushite.
You will always
have a “rabble”
in your life! You
will always have
people in your
midst who will
incite you to
complain.
Complaining is
an excuse for
not asking
God!
Numbers 11:23 (NIV)
23 The LORD answered Moses,
“Is the LORD’s arm too short?
Now you will see whether or
not what I say will come true
for you.”
In some respects
you can look at
every day of your
live as a walk in
the wilderness
with this
question looming
before us: What
do I believe
about the Lord?
John 16:33 (NIV)
33 “I have told you these
things, so that in me you may
have peace. In this world you
will have trouble. But take
heart! I have overcome the
world.”
Numbers 13:2 (NIV)
2 “Send some men to explore the
land of Canaan, which I am giving
to the Israelites.
Numbers 13:27–28 (NIV)
27 They gave Moses this account:
“We went into the land to which
you sent us, and it does flow with
milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28
But the people who live there are
powerful, and the cities are
fortified and very large.
Numbers 13:31 (NIV)
31 But the men who had gone up
with him said, “We can’t attack
those people; they are stronger
than we are.”
Numbers 13:32 (NIV)
32 And they spread among the
Israelites a bad report about the
land they had explored. They said,
“The land we explored devours
those living in it. All the people we
saw there are of great size.
Seeing life only
from their own
strength.
Numbers 14:1–2 (NIV)
1 That night all the members
of the community raised
their voices and wept aloud.
2 All the Israelites grumbled
against Moses and Aaron,
and the whole assembly said
to them, “If only we had
died in Egypt! Or in this
wilderness!
Numbers 14:3 (NIV)
3 Why is the LORD bringing us
to this land only to let us fall
by the sword? Our wives and
children will be taken as
plunder. Wouldn’t it be better
for us to go back to Egypt?”
Numbers 14:4 (NIV)
4 And they said to each other,
“We should choose a leader
and go back to Egypt.”
The Complainers
Pattern:
My life is too
hard, my God is
too weak, my
leaders are too
incompetent.
Numbers 14:11 (NIV)
11 The LORD said to Moses,
“How long will these people
treat me with contempt? How
long will they refuse to
believe in me, in spite of all
the signs I have performed
among them?
Numbers 14:12 (NIV)
12 I will strike them down
with a plague and destroy
them, but I will make you into
a nation greater and stronger
than they.”
Numbers 14:20 (NIV)
20 The LORD replied, “I have
forgiven them, as you asked.
Numbers 14:21 (NIV)
21 Nevertheless, as surely as I
live and as surely as the glory
of the LORD fills the whole
earth,
Numbers 14:22 (NIV)
22 not one of those who saw
my glory and the signs I
performed in Egypt and in the
wilderness but who
disobeyed me and tested me
ten times—
Numbers 14:23 (NIV)
23 not one of them will ever
see the land I promised on
oath to their ancestors. No
one who has treated me with
contempt will ever see it.
Wandering
Chapter 6
Deuteronomy 30:19–20
“Now choose life, so that
you and your children may
live 20 and that you may
love the LORD your God,
listen to his voice, and
hold fast to him.”
Deuteronomy 4:39 (NIV)
39 Acknowledge and take
to heart this day that the
LORD is God in heaven
above and on the earth
below. There is no other.
Deuteronomy 6:4–5 (NIV)
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD
our God, the LORD is one. 5
Love the LORD your God
with all your heart and
with all your soul and with
all your strength.
We have a
choice. We can
complain all the
way, or we can
trust the arm of
the Lord is not to
short to see us
through.