Wednesday, October 11, 2017

October 11 Thought for the day...don't miss your promised land!


In my church, we often say the phrase, "God is good!" We then add "all the time," with a repeat that says "all the time," "God is good!" It is a beautiful sentiment, but I believe we forget how often God is good to us. This hurts us because if we don't honor the way God is good to us, the blessings of God are limited to an ungrateful people, and we naturally miss out on the way He blesses us every day! He may supply, but we may miss our promised land!

"Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years." Hebrews 3:9

The nation of Israel had been blessed beyond belief. Even in the wilderness, in their discipline for disobedience, God still blessed, and it came so common-place to them that they missed it entirely.

The writer is saying they tested God. The meaning here is as if they wanted to see if God would live up to His reputation. The nation, through their sin, put God in a position to demonstrate to them that He really is a faithful God who will never fail His children, This gave God the opportunity to show them that He is indeed everything He said He was.

We can do this as well. You are facing a health, financial, relationship or any other type of crisis you can come to God knowing that He is always faithful and will meet you at your point of need, just because of who He is! When you have to see the deliverance and blessing of the Lord, you will look for it, and God will always be

When it says "tried Me." The writer is telling us that there were many times that Israel would have not survived, they would not have made it. Three million people would have died in the wilderness. Instead, every time God proved He had them in the palm of His hand. This is what the writer meant when He said, "tried Me."

As we keep a grateful heart for all the Lord is doing in our lives it becomes easy to trust that He will "prove" to be our God in every situation. When we don't recognize and honor Him, it is easy to become fearful in our times of crisis rather than trust God will come through.

Can you imagine seeing 40 years of daily miracles? Can you imagine feeding 3 million people with enough quail for meals every day? Can you believe how much manna it took to daily, feed three million people? How many gallons of water needed to come out of the mountain to give water in a desert place to all the livestock and three million people. Those of you that live in South Western Pennsylvania that is roughly our entire population. Yet the nation of Israel grumbled and complained. There was a bad attitude in them as they forgot to be grateful. So they died in the wilderness.

Are you grateful to the Lord for all His blessings? Do you properly honor all the things He has given you and the people He has placed in your life? If not, God may supply, protect and be with you but you will never enter into your promised land. If that is you, don't wallow in self-pity, or get angry because I pushed on a nerve, stepped on your toes, get about the business of an attitude of gratitude and also begin to honor the men and women of God He has placed in your life to bring you to freedom!

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