Effie Darlene Barba

The book of Numbers presents the plan of God for His people going forward.  A plan that removes all chaos.  Here we had over 1.5 million people traveling through the wilderness.  All around was nothingness, so they had to depend fully upon God to provide their needs.  It was essential to remain focused.  Any degree of chaos could bring total havoc to their progress.  There had to be order.  God’s design was perfect.  His grace overwhelming as he dealt with their failures, impatience and lack of faith.  He provided them with a humble, sacrificial leader who would sacrifice his life for their protection.  All God asked for was obedience to His plan for them.  Behind them lay slavery, sorrow and despair.  Ahead lay the promised land.

He provided from them Leviticus. A detailed plan of structuring their lives in such a manner as to remain safe socially and spiritually.  Therein, He provided a means for their redemption from sin through a sacrificial system that pointed the way to Christ.   Now in Numbers, God provides an organizational plan that provides efficiency and safety.  God within the tabernacle was central, as He must be today in the tabernacles of our hearts.  Surrounding the tabernacle were the priests, each group with their own unique orders of what they were responsible for when moving forward.  Each tribe remained together, having numbered the available fighting men within them.

God Removes Chaos

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Before we move fully into the book of Numbers, I want to go back once more to Mount Sinai.  Although I mentioned briefly Moses’s intercessory prayer, I believe we must linger a little longer there to fully grasp our study in the book of Numbers.  How can we be certain that we are secure in God’s Grace?  Why is that so important to know when we walk through the wilderness of life?  We seem to get caught between grace and works, most often in the wilderness.  Knowing that my relationship with God should manifest itself in good works; I strive hard to put on my armor every morning.  Then, somewhere along the way, “I” get distracted.  My eyes get so focused on whatever is my next right step, that I take my eyes off Jesus and look at the storm around me.

Then, just like Peter when he took his eyes off Jesus, I begin to sink in despair. Hopelessness fills my heart and I become restless.  There in that wilderness of uncertainty, I cry out to God.

Matthew 14:22-33 (NET)[1]

Continue reading “Are You Secure in God’s Grace, How and Why?”

As we journey through our life on earth, we find ourselves often in the wilderness.  That place where the complexities of life don’t make sense.  The center between where we were and where we are going.  There, our hearts yearn for more.  Desiring love to battle against loneliness.  Fighting the darkness within our minds.  Reaching out, we grasp hold of what we might think brings happiness, only to discover a different pain as we lose ourselves into the unknown.  Reasoning and rationality fall apart.  The wilderness looms around us as we have no idea what is the next step we are to take.  The familiar past is gone, and we need direction. As our heart aches and fear enters, we tremble with anticipation but of what? So, here we begin, as an entire nation in the book of Numbers learns lessons from God in the wilderness.

Led by Moses, the children of Israel left Egypt where they had resided for 400 years.  What a spectacular Exodus it had been!  They were headed to the Promised Land.  Along the way, the people grew restless and murmured against God.  How quickly they forgot what God had done. Yet, God provided all they needed. When they came to Mount Sinai, Moses went up to the mountain top to meet with God.  There he received the covenant of God including the Ten Commandments and rules on how to live both as a family and a society.  The people saw God’s presence on the mountain as a cloud filled with thundering and lightening.  When Moses returned, they accept God’s covenant, promising to love God with all their heart, mind and strength.  Never to put another God before Him. Joyous for God’s presence they were happy.

In the Wilderness

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Paul arrived into Rome where he was bound by chains, prisoner in a home.  Shackled to a guard, he was allowed visitors. Although he could not go out in the streets.  There it was, he called to himself the Jews of the area.  He so wanted them to know Jesus.  Yes, his ministry had been among the gentiles primarily.  However, his heart bled for the Jews.  Despite their attempts to kill him in Jerusalem, he fearlessly called the Jews of this area.  Then he said, “For the hope of Israel, I am bound with this chain”.  Bound by chains because he knew the one hope of the world, Jesus Christ.  Furthermore, he was bound by chains because his heart bled for Israel that they too might know the one hope.  Then, they would also know why the gospel message was for all people.

Am I bound by chains with passion to the one hope?  Do I truly love God with all my heart, my strength, and my mind?  What would my life look like if I did?  Paul never missed an opportunity to tell others about Jesus.  He marched straight into danger, driven by his passion for the lost.  Without Jesus Christ, all of humanity is lost with no hope of salvation.  Their eternity forever separated from God, tormented in hell.  The lifetime on earth that we live is a split second compared to eternity.  How can not be bound by chains of love to ministering to all we meet, regardless of the cost.  For Jesus Christ is the one hope, the only hope for the lost of the world.

Bound by Chains to the One Hope

So easily in the storms, my mind and heart lose focus of this one thing.  Why is it that I can be so easily distracted from this truth?  Ah, we are fighting a battle against our own flesh and against the demons, principalities and darkness of this world.  Satan wants to chain us to the cares and worries of this world, stealing from us the joy of our salvation.  Thusly we turn our hearts away from the one hope and fail to tell others of Jesus.  Truth is our hearts are either bound by chains to the world or to God.  So, once more I must ask the question—what would my life or yours look like if truly we loved God with all our hearts, our minds, and our strength?

[bctt tweet=”God, I ask you bind my heart With chains of love for you That I might never try to depart There bound! Your will alone I do pursue” username=”effiedarlene”]

[bctt tweet=”Oh, let my heart be bound by chains to the only hope Jesus Christ. So tightly bound heart to heart that my lips are compelled to always proclaim His name to everyone I meet.” username=”effiedarlene”]

DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD?

If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord: I urge you to go to my page titled How to Be Saved by clicking on this link.  There is nothing more important than this; because,  He is the way, the truth and the life. Therefore, I urge you to seek Him today.

PREVIOUSLY

5 Keys to Surviving the Relentless Storms of Life

Why Is “Almost” the Same Devastating Loss as “No Way”?

 

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©Effie Darlene Barba, 2019
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned except for my own books. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

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Photo by Zulmaury Saavedra on Unsplash

 

If there is one thing for certain in this life, there will always be a barrage of relentless storms.  Whether that be illness, financial distress, problems, matters of the heart, or the loss of someone precious to you.  Sometimes life seems unbearable as our heart fills with anxiety or even lays shattered at our own feet.  How often I have been there and how quickly I fall back into that dark abyss when the relentless storms of life keep raging around me.  So, who am I to tell you the 5 keys of surviving?  Ah, precisely, I have been there and have learned how to recalibrate my heart quickly.  Or when my heart will not recalibrate, how to ride through the relentless storms of life, trusting in a Holy, Sovereign God who knows what is best for me.  Even if the relentless storms of life are what brings the good.

Paul had just spent two years in the house of Felix, separated from the ones he loved.  Despite his ministry to Felix and to King Agrippa neither came to a saving knowledge of Christ.  For a man whose heart beat for the lost, this must have broke his heart.  Furthermore, the Jewish leaders with hearts hardened toward the truth of God sending the Messiah must have also caused great grief for Paul.  He had more than enough time to reflect those two years of all the relentless storms of life he had battled for the name of Christ.  Paul knew the truth of the gospel.  He knew not all would be saved and there would be relentless storms.  However, I cannot believe that his human heart did not lay shattered at times at the foot of the cross.  Also, he had time to reflect about his own failures in life.

Relentless Storms

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