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In more than three decades of my Christian life, I have been blest by 2 types of Daily devos'
(matter not exceeding 500 words) in universal Christian literature.
Not only those Devos' which have a different theme everyday but also the ones
which revolve around a certain theme over a period of time, say a fortnight have
richly edified me. In fact, both styles have their own inherent advantages.
If the former style caters to the varying spiritual needs of a christian from day-to-day,
the latter aims 'to ground' a child of God in a certain subject in order he derives the full
benefits of the deep insightful study of a certain topic, spread over a fixed span of time.
In my Daily devo page, I have consciously tried to go in for 'a blend of both the styles'
whereby within a constant theme, I would be aiming to focus on different facets of it which admittedly
is a closer imitation of the 'Constant theme' style than the 'Varying topics' one.
For starters in the first month of January I would be dwelling on the theme of the
"Christian Journey", with the material being arranged in a Book-like format under which the pages
would be opened ( i,e..displayed on-line) on each succeeding day.
So here's wishing you a happy & an edifying read....
Suresh Manoharan
January 21st
So near, yet so far…
Not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I
performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me
ten times, not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to
their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt
will ever see it-
Numbers 14:23-24
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In our ‘voyage’ of study of the journey of the emancipated Jews from the
Egyptian bondage to the Promised Land, we now come to one of the most sordid
tales in the Bible. Beginning with the 13th Chapter of Numbers & ending in
the next chapter, we see the unfolding of a tragic account which is the very
definition of the phrase ‘digging your own grave’. The anguish which mirrors
the face of footballers’ on botching-up penalty kicks fades into nothing when
compared to the anguish, the emancipated but constantly rebellious Jews must have
felt on hearing the Judgment of their Redeemer God that they would not be entering
the Promised Land. Neither before nor after this, has there been such a case of
‘SO NEAR, YET SO FAR’ in the Bible. Their long rebellion against their Redeemer
God culminating in their decision to go back to Egypt, rather than taking up the
God-intended conquest of the Promised Land
(Numbers14: 4) had finally exhausted
God’s patience resulting in a irrevocable curse on them, recorded so somberly
in the captioned scripture portion above.
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Only those who were less than twenty years at the time of their emancipation
from the Egyptian bondage would be entering the Promised Land 40
years later, during which time the cursed generation would
die
(Numbers 14:29-35).
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Why did this cursed lot not take-up the conquest of the Promised Land,
in the first place? They simply did not trust the fact that their
loving and caring God would enable them to overcome their strong
adversaries
(Numbers 13:31-33). When we consider the fact that the
next generation of the emancipated Jews under the leadership of Joshua
(read the book of Joshua) eventually conquered the Promised Land some,
40-45 years later, we can gauge the enormity of the loss of the previous generation.
How did the next generation accomplish, what the previous generation was afraid
to even start? Did their strong and tall adversaries morph into dwarfs in the
intervening period of 40 years? NO! They were just as strong! So how was it done?
Did any ‘X’ factor, come into play? Well, it was all done with the power of
the same faithful God, who had been willing to go along with the dammed
generation too, if only they would let Him!
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My dear readers, please never, ever be afraid to take ‘a leap of faith’,
whenever God wants you to take-up challenging assignments. Just let go of
your doubts and apprehensions & simply trust Him to enable you to succeed in whatever,
He wants you to undertake (Philippians 4:13). Let’s be remembered by posterity, like the
way we remember the blessed generation, which followed Joshua in the Conquest Campaign
(read the Book of Joshua) completely trusting God ‘to deliver the goods for them’.
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Prayer:
Father, enable us always to trust You with a child-like faith,
even whilst facing ‘Mountains of difficulties’, for Thou art well able
to lead us through them. In Jesus’ name.
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