Doyle Smith Daily

 Numbers 20:2-5 (ESV) Originally published 09/21/2015  "Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people quarreled with Moses and said, 'Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD! Why have you brought the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink'" Numbers 20:2-5 (ESV). They knew what God had done for their parents and grandparents, but that was in the past. While reading the Bible it was just a few pages back, but for them is was many years ago. Lord, it is not that I doubt your power, but like the people in this story, I don't expect it in our time. I don't think of myself as worthy of such care as you gave them. Help me to live in obe...

Numbers 18:8,20; 1 Peter 2:9 (ESV) Originally published 09/19/2015 God provides for his workers. "Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, 'Behold, I have given you charge of the contributions made to me, all the consecrated thing of the people of Israel. I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual due'... And the LORD said to Aaron, ‘You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel'" Numbers 18:8,20 (ESV). Every Israelite family got a farm that would provide their physical need, but Aaron and his family had to depend on God to provide without the security of land they could farm. They were dependent on something they could not control -people giving offerings. To the followers of Christ        1 Peter 2:9 (ESV) says "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, . . ." We inherit the...

Numbers 18:6-7 (ESV) Originally published 09/18/2015 "And behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the people of Israel. They are a gift to you, given to the LORD, to do the service of the tent of meeting. And you and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and that is within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift, and any outsider who comes near shall be put to death" Numbers 18:6-7 (ESV). It is sad that some people see being asked to serve God as a burden, but God sees it as a gift for us to be able to work with him. Then he gives us the people we need to help us as another gift. Lord, I thank you for giving me the gift to serve you. I can see in all that you have asked me to do; you have also sent many people to help and support me. Thank you for allowing me to have a little part in your great plan of building your Kingdom. 

Numbers 17:3b-5 (ESV) Originally published 09/17/2015   God is the ruler of his people. Some of the people of Israel rebelled against Moses’ leadership (14,700 died in the plague sent on the rebels). God uses his power to affirm his choice of workers. "For there shall be one staff for the head of each fathers' house. Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you. And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you" Numbers 17:3b-5 (ESV). In his church he gives abilities to people to do the work he needs to have done, and when they do it, he makes it effective. This affirms that the person doing the work is chosen of God. Lord, make clear to me the things that you have given me to do and give me the ability to do them. You have promised that, if I am faithful, the results will be greater than my human skill. Help me not ...

 Numbers 16:41,43-5 (ESV) Originally published 09/16/2015  More than 250 leaders of Israel rebelled against God's chosen leader, and God opened the ground and they were crushed. "But on the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, 'You have killed the people of the LORD.'...and Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Get away from the midst of the congregation that I might consume them in a moment.' And they fell on their faces" Numbers 16:41,43-5 (ESV). Moses had every reason to be angry that he was being blamed for what God had done and to want the people who were blaming him to be punished. But Moses and Aaron fell on their faces to plead with God for the people who were falsely accusing them. Lord, you did more than turn the other cheek when you were crucified. You, like Moses, prayed for those who were killing you. Teach me, even when...

Numbers 16:31-32 (ESV) Originally published 09/15/2015 God had found in Moses a man who would do whatever he told him to do, and God was building a nation from whom his Messiah would come. But Korah and his followers rejected God's plan, and Moses told them what would happen. "And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods" Numbers 16:31-32 (ESV). God was determined to bring Jesus into the world to die for our sins and nothing would stand in his way. Satan was trying to stop God's plan. This battle was fought for us. Lord, it is amazing what you were willing to do so that we might know you through Jesus. I want you to do whatever is necessary in my life to make sure that I fulfill your plan for my life.

Numbers 16:29-30 (ESV) Originally published 09/14/2015 God sees people who refuse to accept his authority as his enemies, as shown by his judgment to Korah and his followers. "If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the LORD has not sent me. But if the LORD creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the LORD" Numbers 16:29-30 (ESV). I have observed that most of the problems that people have in their lives, relationships, and marriages can be traced to refusal to live as God has commanded. Lord, I want to live in obedience to you, but sometimes I don't recognize that I am doing what I think is best and not what you command me to do. When things do not go as they should, remind me to search my heart, and as I do, reveal to me my  rebellion so that I can submit to your will.

 Numbers 16:3-5 (ESV) Originally published 09/12/2015  Moses and Aaron were faithfully obeying God, but Korah and more than 250 people confronted them. "You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD? When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, and he said to Korah and all his company, 'In the morning the LORD will show who is his, and who holy, and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him'" Numbers 16:3-5 (ESV). This had to be painful to Moses, but he does not argue with them or try to fight them. First, he goes to God (fall on his face). Then God assures Moses that he will take care of this. Lord, serving you is not easy, and many times there is conflict and opposition. Remind me in times of conflict and criticism that if I obey you, you will show me what to do, and you will solve the problem

 Numbers 12:3; 16:3 (ESV) Originally published 09/11/2015 When Miriam and Aaron rebelled against Moses' leadership, Numbers 12:3 says: "Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth" (ESV). Now in Numbers 16:3 (ESV), Kohath with three friends, many Israelites and 250 leaders "...assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, 'You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?'" No matter how much we try to obey God, there will always be those who are critical and condemning. Lord, when I am doing and saying what you have directed me to say and do, remind me not to be discouraged by what people might say. Give me satisfaction from your approval.

 Numbers 15:37-41 (ESV) Originally published 09/10/2015 "The LORD said to Moses, 'Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the LORD your God'" Numbers 15:37-41 (ESV). God wanted his people to have a constant reminder of his commands so every waking moment they could look at the blue tassel and be reminded of how they should live. Now, every person who surrenders their lives to the authority of Christ has God present in their minds to guide them to do and think what is righteous and...

 Numbers 15:32-35 (ESV) Originally published 09.09/2015 "While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. And the LORD said to Moses, 'The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp'" Numbers 15:32-35 (ESV).  Sometimes there are stories in the Bible that seem cruel and wrong to me. But I know God to be loving, and just, so I give him the benefit of the doubt and think there is a good reason behind the story. Like if someone told me that my wife pushed a child and he fell down and was hurt. I know my wife would not do that unless there was a reason. When I ask her what happened she tells me she pushed the child to keep him from being hit by a car and saved his life. I don't k...

 Numbers 15:30=51 (ESV) Originally published 09/03/2015  The people of Israel were in Egypt hundreds of years and had no formal relationship with God. God wanted to show the world what human life was like when people lived as God made them to live. To do this the people had to live in submission to everything God told them to do. A high hand describes someone who is defiant and we might say he shakes his fist at God and openly refuses to obey. God could not build a godly people with those who would do that. "But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is a native or a sojourner, reviles the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him" Numbers 15:30-31 (ESV). Often people tell me they believe in God, but they consciously refuse to live like God tells them to live. God's response to them is to ref...

 Numbers 15:22-25 (ESV) Originally published 09/02/2015  God knows the difference between rebellion and mistakes. "But if you sin unintentionally, and do not observe all these commandments that the LORD has commanded you by Moses, from the day that the LORD gave the commandment, and onward throughout your generations, then if it was done unintentionally without the knowledge of the congregation, all the congregation shall offer one bull from the herd for a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD with its grain offering and its drink offering, and according to the rule, and one male goat for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the people of Israel, and they shall be forgiven, because it was a mistake,... "Numbers 15:22-25 (ESV). Mistakes reveal a lack of knowledge, inattention, or immaturity, while rebellion shows defiance and rejection of authority. It is the difference between accidentally hitting a car and ramming a car on pu...

 Numbers 15:20-21 (ESV) Originally published 09/01/2015  "Of the first of your dough you shall present a loaf as a contribution, like a contribution from the threshing floor, so shall you present it. Some of the first of your dough you shall give to the LORD as a contribution throughout your generation" Numbers 15:20-21 (ESV). God demanded that the Israelites give the first of the crops and first of the dough as an act of faith. God promises his people he would provide for them and they are to give the first of crops and dough without knowing if the rest of the harvest will be successful or not or if there will be enough bread for everyone in the family to eat. Lord, I want to do what I know each day you want me to do first, even though I might not have time for the things I enjoy doing or need to do, and when I write checks I will give what you want me to give without checking to make sure I have enough to pay all the bills. Teach me to trust you with all of my life. 

 Numbers 15:1-3 (ESV) Originally published 08/31/2015  "The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'When you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you, and you offer to the LORD from the herd, or from the flock, a food offering or burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or at your appointed feast, to make a pleasing aroma to the LORD,...'" Numbers 15:1-3 (ESV). God certainly did not benefit from the animal being burnt, but it pleased him that people gave something of value to him.  Lord, I never thought of giving money to you or time to serve you as bringing pleasure to you. Remind me when I give money to you that you are pleased and when I give time to listen to you or serve you, that you are touched by that. I haven't thought before how my sacrifices might impact you.

 Numbers 14:42-45 (ESV) Originally published 08/29/2015  The people of Israel didn't accept God's authority or trust him enough to enter Canaan when he told them to enter. Then he told them they would never enter the land as their punishment for rejecting his authority. Then they decided to go into Canaan, but Moses told them: "Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. For there the Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the LORD, the LORD will not be with you." But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither the ark of the covenant of the LORD nor of Moses departed out of the camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to Hormah" Numbers 14:42-45 (ESV). The Israelites decided to enter Canaan not because they accepted Go...

Numbers 14:26-30 (ESV) Originally published 08/27/2015 08/03/2015 - The Israelites had been set free from slavery for two years: "And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes, and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down" Numbers 11: 1-2 (ESV). When we have surrendered our lives to God's control and we complain about what has happened to us, we are insulting God. We are telling God that our judgment is better than his, and it is blasphemy. Lord, I know that you have not promised that everything that happens to me will be good, but you have promised that in all the things that happen, if I obey you, you will bring good out of it. This promise always encourages me.

 Numbers 14:21-23 (ESV) Originally published 08/26/2015 This is the worst of tragedies. God wants to give his people the land of promise, and they want the land, but they will not get it. God said: "But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it" Numbers 14:21-23 (ESV).   Lord, expose to me any blindness that I have in my life that keeps me from recognizing the disobedience that does not allow you to fulfill the promises that you have made to your followers. Desiring to please you is not enough. I want to please in every way in every part of my life.

 Numbers 14:12 (ESV) Originally published 08/25/2015  "...The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working" James 5:16b (ESV. This is an example of how God responds to prayer. God said to Moses: "I will strike them (Israel) with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they" Numbers 14:12 (ESV). Then Moses prayed: "And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, 'The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generations. Please pardon the inquiry of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.' Then the LORD said, 'I have pardoned, according to your word'" Numbers 14:18-20 (ESV). This pray...

 Genesis 12:1-3 (ESV); Numbers 14:11-12 (ESV) Originally published 08/24/2015  God made a covenant with Abraham: Now the LORD said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed'" Genesis 12:1-3 (ESV). The people of Israel showed no faith in God by refusing to enter the land God promised Abraham and them: "And the LORD said to Moses, "How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they'" Numbers 14:11-12 (ESV).  God did not lose his temper and go ...

 Numbers 14:11-12 (ESV) Originally published 08/21/2015 God heard the pleading of Israel to deliver them from slavery. He fought with Pharaoh to release his people. He miraculously parted a sea for them, rained bread on them every morning, gave water from a rock, and now they refuse to go into the land he was trying to give them. "And the LORD said to Moses, 'How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they" Numbers 14:11-12 (ESV). I don't think of God as being frustrated, but he had every reason to be frustrated with the people of Israel. Lord, I wonder how often you get frustrated with me. I know that I get frustrated with myself. I know that I could be more disciplined and obedient. Forgive me for disappointing you. I don't despise you, but I am weak. Help...

 Numbers 14:5-7, 9,10 (ESV) Originally published 08/20/2015   Moses and Aaron risked their lives to challenge Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave Egypt. They put up with complaints and ridicule from the people and now the people refuse to enter the land God had promised them. They wanted to find a new leader to take them back to slavery in Egypt. "Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, 'The land, which we passed through to spy it out is an exceedingly good land....Only do not rebel against the LORD...' Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel" Numbers 14:5-7,9,10 (ESV). Sacrificial, self-denying service to people in ...

 Numbers 14:1-4 (ESV) Originally published 08/19/2015  Israel had traveled over a year through many difficulties, and now they were ready to receive the land God had promised, but they did not believe that God could enable them to defeat the people living there. "Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, ''Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in the wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt? And they said to one another, 'Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt'" Numbers 14:1-4 (ESV). Israel blamed God and Moses for their problems. The truth was that a wonderful life was just ahead of them, but their disaster was the result of their failure to trust and obe...

Numbers 13:30-33 (ESV) Originally published 08/18/2015 The people of Israel were trying to decide whether or not they should try to invade Canaan, which God promised to give to them. "But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, 'Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.' Then the men who had gone up with him said, 'We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.' So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, 'The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them'" Numbers 13:30--33 (ESV). There are two kinds of reality, rational reality and spiritual reality. Both reports were true. The mili...

Numbers 13:26-29 (ESV) Originally published 08/17/2015 When the spies examined the land that God promised to the Israelites it was everything he told it would be. But they said: "However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the Jordan." Numbers 13:26-29 (ESV) The promises that God makes to his followers are wonderful, but they are impossible to receive without the help of God. Lord, forgive me for thinking that I can fulfill your plans with my hard work, planning, programs and my skill. I am reminded that if I am faithful and obedient you will accomplish your purpose through me.

 Numbers 13:23-27 (ESV) Originally published 08/15/2015 God had promised his people a land "flowing with milk and honey." When Israel arrived, they sent 12 leaders into the land to see if it was what was promised. "And they came to the valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they brought some pomegranates and figs. That place was called the valley of Eshcol because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there. At the end of 40 days they returned from spying out the land. And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him. 'We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit'" Numbers 13:23-27 (ESV). What God told them was ...