Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

A Daily Devotional by Kenton Cheek

29 February 2024

Reading From Numbers 14-15

“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? 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 14:11-12

     The power of Yahweh was on display from the burning bush to the plagues and the entire journey from Egypt to Canaan and yet the Israelites still do not believe that He can bring them into the land that He promised their ancestors.  They complain about their circumstances a lot and won’t submit to the leadership of God through Moses and Aaron.  Unfortunately, the lives of every believer can be compared to the exodus and wilderness wanderings of Israel.  Time and again we see God’s provision and protection in our lives and yet we complain that whatever we’re blessed with isn’t good enough. 

I am reminded of the great hymn of our faith, “Count Your Blessings” by Johnson Oatman, Jr. and my heart is filled with hope.

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings—money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

Moses once again pleaded with God not to destroy His people, but the generation who did not believe that He could deliver Canaan into their hands were forbidden from entering it and sent back into the desert to wander for forty years.  Without choosing to have faith and trust in God, none of us will see the Promised Land.

“Increase my faith, Lord.  Help me to trust You more and more through every season of my life.  I pray that I would be grateful for all that You’ve done for me so far and not complain about what You’ve provided.  Remind me to count my blessings.  Give me the strength I need to move forward, believing that You will lead me into abundance in this life and the one to come and that I would be generous in sharing those blessings, spiritual and temporal, with others.  Amen.”

Hope in the Lord
    and keep his way.
He will exalt you to inherit the land;
    when the wicked are destroyed, you will see it.

–Psalm 37:34