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 refuse to give them his wisdom to make choices, so they end up making destructive choices. He does not provide for them, and he does not protect them, and their lives are a mess as a result. This is what it means to be cut off from God. Lord, reveal to me any rebellious or resistant spirit in me. Show me anything that I do in resistance to your will for me and give me a submissive spirit.