Numbers 16-25

AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE:
Last week we began to talk about the Israelites and how quickly they could jump from a state of gratitude to COMPLAINING AND GRIPING! We must be cautious and introspective – in a state of alertness that this not be true in our individual lives.
Let’s take a quick walk through chapters 16 – 25 and land on a few points for emphasis.
Chapter 16: A rebellion planned – led by Korah. Moses’ response, the Lord will show who He has chosen. Korah actually stirred up the entire nation against Moses and Aaron. The Lord was going to destroy them instantly and even after all this bad treatment, Moses and Aaron pled for mercy for them. The Lord warned them to get away from the culprits’ tents and they obeyed the warning. The ground split and swallowed them up…along with their tents and families and the friends who were standing with them…EVERYTHING! Fire burned up the 250 men who were offering unauthorized incense. Censers beat into flat metal to cover the altar as a reminder to the people. Verse 41: The very next morning all the people began muttering again against Moses and Aaron. The Lord wanted to destroy this mob and again Moses and Aaron stood and acted for mercy to the people. The plague had already begun and even with Aaron (who went among the people NOT in his own strength, but IN Him…making atonement for the people 14,700 died.
As the “grumbling generation” marched through the wilderness outside the Promised Land, their discontent focused on Moses and Aaron. Only a miraculous budding of Aaron’s rod convinces the people that Aaron represents God’s authority. In this state of rebellion, God again emphasizes the Levites’ role in the service of the tabernacle and provides the red heifer as a means of cleansing the people from the ever-present defilement of death. Eventually Moses is affected by the nation’s complaining attitude as well. In a moment of anger he strikes the rock, instead of speaking to it as God commanded, and so forfeits his privilege to set foot in the Promised Land. Moses did what we so often do: God’s will, Moses’ way!”
“If money can’t buy it, it is probably worth having.” God made it clear to Aaron and his family that their security was to be IN Him alone, even as they enjoyed their new homeland. God had faithfully supplied Aaron’s daily needs in the past and he would do the same in the future. This was true also for the nation as a whole. God had been their great Sustainer, and would continue to provide even when they possessed wealth of their own.
Though owning property or having a back account is not wrong, the danger is in allowing such things to crowd out your daily dependence on God. You may be in “good hands with_____”, but you are in better hands with God! 18:20 “…I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.”
Chapter 21: The wanderings are drawing to a close and the movement of the people becomes more purposeful. They are heading for the plains of Moab, east of the Jordan River and are poised just opposite the Promised Land. Along the way they faced both physical and spiritual conflict. Militarily, they enjoy victory over the Canaanites, Amorites, and Bashanites. But constant grumbling about the food and water resulted in God sending fiery serpents in judgment. The advancing Israelite horde causes the king of Moab to hire a diviner, Balaam, both to foretell the future and to curse the nation of Israel. Instead, Balaam blesses Israel and predicts how she will prosper.
Are you a roller coaster Christian? Up one day and down the next? It is a frustrating feeling, and one most Christians would rather do without! But what is the secret to consistency in the Christian life?
In the space of a single chapter (21) the nation Israel conquered three national powers. Smashing victories! Stunning triumphs! But for some of the people it wasn’t enough. To their way of thinking God wasn’t working fast enough. After all, they were still on the wrong side of the Jordan and didn’t possess a single spade full of the land they had been promised. Their impatience led to criticism about the living conditions, the length of the journey, and God’s timetable. Their conversations were often like this: “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness? There is nothing to eat here, and nothing to drink, and we hate this insipid manna.”
What is the habit of your life…complaining and allowing a moment of gratitude to quickly turn into grouching? Are we regularly expressing gratitude to God for His providential care?
To deal with pride, thankfulness and gratitude lead to the victory over pride. We are to give thanks for everything!! If you have difficulty giving thanks, you have a problem with pride. You need to be an humble person to be thankful. Being thankful turns your eyes off yourself to the Lord. An humble person is thankful or grateful because she knows she doesn’t deserve anything but has been given everything. And she knows the Lord is the Source and not herself. Do your thanksgivings outweigh your requests?
There are three stages of growth with thankful/grateful people:
1. Before the blessing—John 11 (verse 41)… Raising of Lazarus;
2. In the midst of whatever—Daniel, determined to be obedient regardless of the consequences (1:8); Jonah (2:9) “voice of thanksgiving”
3. After the blessing: Exodus 14 Red Sea parted; 15:1 “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel? Revelation 15 “And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy words, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways thou King of saints.”
In Acts 16, what are Paul and Silas doing in the midst of great pain and suffering? “singing in prison!”
There are two kinds of people you need to guard against becoming like! (1) Luke 12:16-21 “build bigger barns to store what I have achieved.” (2) Luke 18:9-14 Pharisee and the publican.
In choosing to be dependent only upon the Lord, in choosing His ways and not your ways, humility will take the place of pride. When pride is not present, gratefulness can be easily expressed; first, to the Lord and then to others. Humility is recognizing that everything that comes to us is filtered through the hand of God and is for our good.
The Scriptures are clear regarding gratefulness. We should develop a grateful heart for everything in life. Our practice of expressing gratefulness comes when we obey the verse that says, “Give thanks in ALL things”. This includes the good and what we might consider as the not so good…even the events and circumstances we view as bad as we are walking through them. Ultimately we will be benefited by all that happens to us. We must remember that God has especially designed each situation and person that touches our life as a means for developing His character in us. Romans 8:28-29.
Think right now of the circumstances, people, or things which have been in your life or may be in your life presently, which are not what you would have chosen. In other words, it has not been and is not a pleasant experience.
Let’s look at God’s goal for us with different words. God wants me to develop my “chooser”-- choose to turn from MY ways to His ways, to choose not to follow my fleshly impulses, but instead be moment-by-moment sensitive to the movement of the precious Holy Spirit—Jesus and God “in me”—clothed in my humanity. Then, and only then, will He be expressed through me…in other words, let the world see evidence of Christ living in me, living His life out through
When you practice gratefulness, have you ever noticed what happens to your attitude? Situations, people, or things which would normally ruin your day don’t hold control over you as they once would have done. Your focus is re-directed to see things in the light of His Word, giving us His perspective. In short, our lives are totally changed.
What is God’s goal for your life? Is it Godly character? Can we achieve Godly character through keeping rules or fulfilling formulas in our life? Can we ever be truly good without God?
Matthew 19:17 Remember the Lord’s question to the young man, “Why callest Thou Me good? There is none good but one…” (In other words, He is saying that they won’t confess that He is God yet they are calling Him good.) Also, II Timothy 3:5 “having a form of godliness and denying the power thereof.” In other words, we can have the appearance of goodness without being truly good, which is the condition of Christ in us and through us!!
All the situations and circumstances, people, and things which come into our lives are designed with that in mind. Our responses or reactions to every situation reveals what is built into our life. Is there anger, bitterness, or patience, love, etc.?
Reflections:
Where does gratefulness come from?
Have you realized that in and of yourself, you are truly nothing?
We are to have a grateful heart for ____________ in life.
What changes as you practice Gratefulness?
What is God’s goal for our lives?

Having a heart of gratefulness will make a world of difference for us, particularly in our difficult relationships or situations. The changes which take place in us are phenomenal as we train our chooser to choose “Christ through us” rather than a fleshly response. As we practice these responses, we will see life from God’s perspective. Our emotions may or may not turn around as we grow to the place of displaying gratefulness. As with all things, we must acknowledge that we cannot be a person of gratefulness, only Christ in and through us can do that!! We cannot be dependent on our feelings to make the correct choice.
God tells us in His Word:
Psalm 100:4 “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him and bless His name.”
Psalm 22:3 He “inhabitest the praises of Israel.” These verses express the incredible importance of giving thanks and praise to God.
Thanksgiving is the very key which allows us access in His gates and praise brings us into His courts. Praise and thanksgiving all come out of a heart of gratefulness because if we are not grateful, we will only grumble and complain. No thanks issues from the heart of someone who is ungrateful. Entering His gates and courts requires a thankful heart. Are you one who shouts “Praise the Lord” and in the next breath complain and grumble.
Complaining and grumbling may not come out of your mouth, but what is happening in your heart? God knows the truth. Expose it to yourself. Allow the light of God to shine in the dark areas of your being and clean out the garbage.
Every time we have a negative attitude, grumble, complain, murmur or resist, whether inwardly or outwardly, we are judging the Lord God Almighty! We are raising our fleshly fist up and saying “You are not doing very well with Your job here!” That is bondage! You have fallen into the stronghold of thinking that you can handle life better than God. Do you accurately identify this as pride?
In having an attitude that God is not doing a good job, we place ourselves in the position of lofty thinking—thinking which leads us to a stronghold. When we take His position by judging His work, we neglect our own responsibilities in dealing with our heart.
Ask the Lord to reveal your true self to you as contrasted to Himself. The Lord will show you that you are NOT God and your heart will be transformed. Seeing ourselves in comparison to God, cuts away our lofty self-opinion and we are brought to an accurate look at our true worthlessness without Him. Our response to His worthiness is gratefulness for everything that touches our life in any way.
Reflections:
Write out Psalm 100:4
What gives us access to God’s presence?
What are we doing to God when we have a negative attitude?
Is it okay to grumble as long as you do not say anything our aloud?
What happens to us when we see ourselves in comparison to God?
What is our response to God’s worthiness?
Many Scriptures emphasize thanksgiving and praise to God. Psalms especially do so. Since David wrote many of the Psalms showing such an emphasis on thanksgiving, obviously it was birthed out of his lifestyle. Thanksgiving is an excellent pattern for us to follow as God called David “a man after My own heart.”
Psalm 47:7 “For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.” This verse declares just Who God is and tells of His mighty power over everything. “praise with understanding” means we need to have good comprehension regarding the fact that God is King over everything. Not just the plants and animals, but people, angels, demons, situations and circumstances. He is Number One!
Reflections:
Why is David’s lifestyle of praise and thanksgiving a good thing for us to emulate?
What are we to understand regarding praising God…Psalm 47:7?
When we have a true understanding of Who God is, we can and will praise and thank Him in all things as we are told to do in I Thessalonians 5:18: “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” We don’t always like all that comes our way in life, but realizing God has sent it especially for us will go a long way in how we respond.
Program into our flesh computer the new thoughts: All circumstances, people and things which come into my life are designed by God to develop more of Him and less of me. AND that God is in control and allowed the situation so that I might set aside my fleshly responses and allow Him through me to respond! (I Cor.10:13)

We KNOW that, “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.” Rom. 8:28
Reflections:
What command are we given in I Thessalonians 5:18?
What reason is given for this command?
What are the 2 keys we should remember?
In Psalm 116:17 “I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.” What makes giving thanks a sacrifice at these times is that sacrifice causes us to deny ourselves—our feelings, etc. and choose His way of thinking. Although seeming like a sacrifice at first, it is a disguised blessing. We are re-directing our focus onto Who God is.
In Psalm 22:3, praise is a mark of God’s people. Psalm 34:1 “I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” An excellent benefit of praise is that, since the Lord dwells in these praises, Satan cannot stand the heat! Therefore, continuous praise and thanksgiving is about the best offensive spiritual warfare strategy at our disposal.
Simple conceptions? Yes, but easy, no! Our emotions can be very strong and we will be tempted to allow them to dictate our life. But, if we are truly grounded in faith, we will demonstrate our belief by surrendering ourselves to Him with an attitude of gratefulness. We have nothing to lose and can only gain through placing ourselves totally in His care and allowing His Spirit to live in and through us.
CHOOSE right now to develop your attitude of gratitude!
Reflections:
When is thanksgiving a sacrifice for us?
Why?
What does Psalm 34:1 say should always be coming out of our mouths?
Do you think Satan stays around when we give thanksgiving and praise to God?
What is an excellent offensive spiritual warfare strategy at our disposal?
Contentment
[author unknown]
I prayed for a task that was noble and grand,
He placed but menial jobs in My hand.
I prayed that the spotlight would fall upon me,
But, He placed me ‘neath shade trees where no one could see.
I prayed for more riches to spend and to share,
He met all my needs, but with nothing to spare.
I wanted acceptance, to be loved and received,
I found misunderstanding and often became grieved.
So, I cried out to God in my anger one night,
And I wept and I argued, “Have I not the right?
To ask, to receive,
To seek and to find
To gain the world’s riches,
To win the world’s mind?”
But, He answered, “Oh, child, I’ve heard every prayer.
You’re seeking for riches and riches are there,
But, oh, child, My burden, when your life is spent,
It’ not what you’ve done, but were you content?
Content with riches if riches were best,
And, yet, more in poverty, able to rest.
Content with the role wherein lies no acclaim,
That others might wonder and honor My name.
Content in that place under pressure so real,
Content ‘neath a load others ne’er have to feel.
Content with that person,
Content with that call,
Content when the world offers nothing at all.
Contentment that’s based on a love that is free,
A desire to become what I want you to be.
A life that is satisfied, rested, complete,
Simply content to be found at My feet.
I’ll not leave you, my child, in the midst of your task,
Nor will I forsake you, what more could you ask?
So, rest in contentment,
Cease all your strife,
And I will supply all the needs of your life.”
Suggested Prayer: Father, I know that all circumstances, people and things which come into my life are designed by You to make more of You real in me and make less of me. I know that You are in control and allow every situation so that I might set aside my fleshly responses and allow Christ through me to respond! I choose once and for all to respond to circumstances, people and things with Your grace. I know that I must choose moment by moment in attitude, actions and words to continue to do so. Thank you for living in me which makes it possible.
(I Cor.10:13)