Light fog today, the sun peaks through occasionally.  Unlike the other side of the mountains where lots of rain has fallen and caused a lot of problem, we have had just a few drizzles, I can handle that.

Still the animals remain inside, preferring that to the cooler moisture laden air outside.

Looks like our hummingbirds are down to our normal winter flock of 3-4.  Just have to keep their feeder fresh and free from the freezing that will be coming soon.

Hebrew 12:28-29  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

²⁹ For our God is a consuming fire.

In our relationship with God we all too frequently forget that He has the power to do whatever He wants, with US.

We don’t take into consideration the responsibility we have in serving Him.

Moses made a mistake when he failed to do as he was told:

Numbers 20:8 Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.

That’s pretty direct, pretty simple, just speak to the rock and it will provide water.

However, Moses was very upset with the people and let his anger show:

Verses 9-11 And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him.

¹⁰ And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?

¹¹ And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.

It is not that big of a deal, right, I mean instead of telling the rock to bring forth water, he struck it just like he did at

Horeb where God told him to strike the rock for water.

And yes, he did kinda equate himself with God, since he said ‘must WE fetch water out of this rock?”

What difference does it really make, he got the water anyway, it wasn’t that major of a sin.

But it was, wasn’t it?

Verse 12 And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

Moses was punished for his disobedience.  Yes, he remained in charge and he remained the leader of the Jewish congregation.

He continued to make many decisions that were supported by God, but God’s rebuke was serious, because Moses’ sin was serious.

God denied him the blessing of crossing over to the Promised Land.

God may leave us in our positions of responsibilities or wherever He has placed us, but when we disobey Him, we may lose out on a blessing that was prepared for us and because we disobeyed He takes it from us.

It is good that we are adopted into the family of God through Jesus Christ.

It is good that we don’t have to go through a series of sacrifices to purify our hearts.

It is good that we can call God our Father and Jesus our friend and brother.

It is good that the Holy Spirit dwells within us and helps guide us through this life.

It is good that we have direct access to God and don’t have to go through a whole bunch of people to get to Him.

It is good that when we sin we have an advocate with the Father and we know we will be forgiven.

It is all good.

But with our familiarity with God it is easy to forget that should we choose to disobey Him there are consequences; one of which is missing out on the many blessing that are available to us.

God is not just something we go to and relate with, He is someone who wants to give us an opportunity to grow and when we fail we miss out.

It is just like the football player who has natural abilities and seems invincible.  If he doesn’t practice, if he doesn’t stay in shape then he will be benched by the coach, even if that coach is his father.

Failing to obey God has consequences.  Despite some people’s thoughts that it is better not to ask permission, just do what they want and ask forgiveness after - It is far better to strive to do what God wants us to do than to ask forgiveness for disobeying Him.

I need to remember I am responsible to Him and not become so ‘familiar’ I take Him for granted - The consequences may be far greater than I can ever realize.

Later, Art (-: