He knew...

"And to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as himself is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”  (Mark 12:33)

Have you ever read parts of the Old Testament that repeat over and over all of the animals and food that God required of the Israelites, His chosen people, to bring to Him?  Just go to Numbers 29, for example, and you will see that in just one month alone, they were told to sacrifice bulls and rams and lambs and bring grain and drink offerings, all as a "soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the Lord"  (Numbers 29:6).  Bring them on the first, the tenth, the fifteenth days of the month (Numbers 29:1-16).  The second, the third, the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth days as well (Numbers 29:17-38).  And not just one or two sacrifices....but hundreds, THOUSANDS... and even MORE ON TOP OF THESE (Numbers 29:39-40)... bring all of these and hand them over to please the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob...the God of the living...the One True God (Matthew 22:32).  

YOU SURE HAVE TO LOVE AND RESPECT SOMEONE TO KEEP DOING THIS DAY AFTER DAY AFTER DAY ....

Now granted, it was during this particular month that the Israelites were to celebrate the God-ordained Feast of Trumpets, or Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year); which traditionally has been said to commemorate "the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, and their first actions toward the believed realization of humanity's role in God's world."  But wow, to have to bring all of these animals and grain and drink and fire and...again I say:

YOU SURE WOULD HAVE TO LOVE AND RESPECT SOMEONE IN ORDER TO DO THIS...and do it consistently, without complaining, without giving in, without giving up.

But God knew. 

He knew they would tire of these ceremonies ("This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me" - Matthew 15:7-8).  He knew they would turn and worship other persons, places, and things (e.g., Judges 3:7, 8:33, 10:6).  He knew that His people no longer loved Him enough to continuously come before Him, not so much with items in their hands to give Him, but with a sacrificial (soft, broken) heart that loved Him and that would do anything to stay close to and glorify Him.  Why else would King David, a man called BY God "a man after God's own heart" (1 Samuel 16:6-12) (in SPITE of his many sins), have proclaimed:

For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.  (Psalm 51:16-17)

But God knew.

And He also knew from the beginning that ultimately HE would have to be the One, in order to RESTORE that Love Relationship with not only His "chosen people" but with ALL of us, to bring HIS sacrifice to us - WITH THAT NECESSARY LOVE FOR US EXPLODING FROM HIS HEART - lay it on a cross-shaped altar, and hope that many...that all...would believe that He would do this for us. 

Because He did:

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  (Romans 5:8)

He knew we wouldn't come (Isaiah 53:6). 

He still knows. 

That's why He sent His Son...to draw us back to Him again.

‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Return to Me,” declares the Lord of hosts, “that I may return to you,” ...  (Zechariah 1:3)

In His Love,   

Terri 

Who was (IS) bigger?

How true God is and how deceiving our flesh and satan are.

It's the "story" (real event) of the twelve spies, sent out by Moses to explore the amazing and abundantly-supplied new land (Canaan) God wanted to give His people (Numbers 13:1-16).  That "land flowing with milk and honey" (13:27) which has become almost like a folklore saying, but which really existed (now, whether a dairy product and a sweet syrupy substance actually dripped within it, we don't know...but it was certainly going to be a God-protected place of peace, provision, and ultimate satisfaction).  

But OH NO!  Despite the fact that all twelve of these spies observed the overflowing richness of the terrain (13:27), ten of them chose to focus on the very large, muscle-bound (strong) people who already dwelled there and the fact that the walls of the city appeared almost impenetrable (13:28-29).  They were DOOMED and could not possibly move into this home that God had PROMISED to give them ("The Promised Land") (10:29; 13:31-33).  Surely the inhabitants there would CONSUME and DESTROY them.  Definitely God's people would be SQUASHED when trying to pick away at the STRONG GATES!   (But hadn't God PROMISED to give it to them...?!)

So most of them refused to go.  Because of this "bad report" from ten of the spies (13:32), the Israelites instead of believing God's TRUTH, selected to listen to the spies' "sentence"; their flesh's fears; and ultimately, satan's lies.  And boy did they miss out (to say the very least: 14:20-23, 26-34). 

And guess WHAT?  THEY (the ten spies and the congregation of Israelites) WERE WRONG!  Flash forward a bit to when two new spies were sent out by Joshua (one of the original twelve spies who actually believed God: 14:6-10) to go check out again the new territory that God wanted to give His people (Joshua 2:1).  He even instructed them to stay with a prostitute (goes to show you how we have no right to judge anyone by our own standards: 2:1; Matthew 21:31-32)!  And it was this very harlot, Rahab, who revealed what the truth actually was about the TERRIFYING PEOPLE and IMPOSSIBLE-TO-GET-THROUGH WALLS of the new land...take a listen:

Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, and said to the men, "I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you (those who dwelled there were actually scared of them!).  For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan.  Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.  And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath...".  (Joshua 2:8-11; parentheses mine)

...for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath...

So who/what was bigger...and was the TRUTH?  The spies' observation of the gigantic people and the looming land...the peoples' scared hearts...satan's whispering, hissing corroboration of both...

...or God (John 14:6)? 

I think it was God...

(and just a "tidbit" to add to this whole situation:  in order for Rahab and her family to be SAVED when God's people took over the land, she had to place a scarlet [red] cord in their window...and then the destruction would pass over them [Joshua 2:17-19].  In order for the Israelites to be SAVED from God's wrath on those in Egypt who were holding His people hostage, they had to place a lamb's blood over the doorposts of their homes...and then the plagues of God would pass over them [Exodus 12:1-13].  And now, in order to be SAVED from God's eternal condemnation of sin-drenched man...that is, US...we too must have something red "hanging from our window"..."covering our doorposts"...living and breathing in our own hearts...and that is the blood of the TRUE Passover Lamb: Jesus Christ, the Son of God...[John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:17-21]).   

Thank You, God, that You are bigger and that You are the Truth. 

"Voice of Truth" (by Casting Crowns)

God bless you all.

In His Love, 
Terri