Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20120226.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Numbers: Lessons From Spiritual Casualties And Conquerors
Part XXX: Learning By Trial To Heed God's Lessons Sooner, Not Later
(Numbers 21:1-9 with 20:23-29)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    We all face trials, but sometimes our trials seem to mount up to such a degree that they seem unbearable, and we wonder why:

    (1) We have all been bombarded by negative news of the "Great Recession," and last Monday, I read that "(t)he U. S. population is growing at the slowest rate since the Great Depression after two decades of robust increases . . . [and] (a)lmost anybody who observes these things over the years can say this is almost all recession-related'" claimed Carl Haub, a demographer for the Population Reference Bureau as reported by Haya El Nasser's article, "Growth of U. S. Slowest since 30s" in the February 20, 2012 USA TODAY, p. 1A.

    (2) In the same paper, Mike Rice from Wellfleet, Massachusetts wrote to the editor lamenting our nation's "annual trillion dollar deficits" that "continue to mount," and Bill Leggett of Tucson added, "Congress needs some external discipline. A balanced budget amendment . . . looks like the surest path." (Ibid., p. 6A)

    (3) Matt Krantz's "Ask Matt" column in the same paper, p. 4B, in his article, "Stock bashers have short-term memories," dealt with the question: "Why are so many people grumbling about stocks being down, when the Dow is up so much lately?" In answer, he explained: "The broad stock market still is well below where it was before the financial system short-circuited . . . [so that] (i)nvestors can't wipe from their minds the pain they've been through," and they "have no shortage of things to worry about . . . Europe, the health of the U. S. economy and political matters in the Middle East" and the fact that "(t)he fourth quarter has marked the eighth quarter in a row of slowing earnings growth by companies in the S&P 500."

    (4) Besides, RealtyTrac claims "Florida, Massachusetts and Connecticut all saw default-notice spikes of more than 20 % year-over-year" in mortgage failures! (Jeanine Skowronski, "Huge foreclosure spikes in some states," msn.com, February 17, 2012)

    (5) On top of all this, I spoke with two believers following last Sunday's morning worship service about significant financial problems and family trials that they or others close to them face.



    So, we ask, "When trials seem to keep on mounting up, and I find them increasingly unbearable, why is this so, and how may I return to a position of blessing from God?!"

    Need: "Sometimes, life's trials mount up so much that they seem unbearable! Why, and how may I be restored to a life of blessing?!"

  1. We learned from studying Numbers 20:23-29 that Aaron's public death on Mount Hor near the border of Edom was God's warning lesson to Israel that Aaron and Esau failed to gain inheritance in the Promised Land for falling for instant worldly lust gratification.
  2. Well, Israel PARTLY heeded that lesson with MIXED results:
    1. In Numbers 21:1-3, Israel initially heeded God's warning lesson from Aaron's public death and gained God's rich reward:
      1. In Numbers 21:1 KJV, NIV, when the Canaanite king of Arad who dwelt in the southern desert of Canaan (Negev) heard Israel was moving near his territory, he attacked her, taking some prisoners.
      2. Instead of failing to trust God and complaining about this trial, Israel rightly heeded God's lesson of Aaron's death, and vowed to the Lord that if He gave her the victory over these Canaanites, she would "devote their cities to destruction," Numbers 21:2 ESV.
      3. This phrase uses the Hebrew verb, haram rendered (ESV) "devote to destruction," a technical term in the Ancient Near East for devoting an enemy in war to a deity so that the enemy was destroyed and its booty (usually) given to the god's temple treasury in his honor, B. D. B., A Hebrew-English Lexicon of the O. T., p. 355-356; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Joshua 6:17.
      4. Thus, Israel vowed that if God let her defeat her Canaanite foes, she would honor Him by destroying the Canaanites and giving their booty to the Lord (for the tabernacle upkeep, etc.).
      5. God gave the victory, so Israel kept her promise, and, in honor of the Lord for His help, she called the place "Hormah," or "devoted," a noun derived from haram , Numbers 21:3; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 356.
    2. However, in Numbers 21:4-6, Israel ignored God's warning lesson from Aaron's public death and faced enhanced disciplinary trials:
      1. When Israel traveled from Mount Hor 100 miles south to the Gulf of Aqaba (Ibid., Ryrie, map 3: The Route Of The Exodus), only to turn around and go back north 100 miles east of Edom out in the desert to bypass that land (Ibid.; Num. 21:4a), she became "short" (qaser, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 894), i. e., "impatient" in her nephesh, in her seat of emotion and passions, Ibid., p. 659-661. The long, hard, humanly seemingly excessive desert trip to circumvent Edom exasperated the people, and they became impatient and irritable!
      2. They complained against God and Moses, asking why Moses had brought them up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there was no [natural] food or water there, and "we loathe this light food" of manna God was supplying, Num. 21:5 KJV; Ex. 16:35.
      3. The word "light" in Numbers 21:5 KJV ("worthless" ESV) is from the Hebrew adjective qeloqel, a derivative of the verb qalal, "be slight, trifling," (Ibid., B. D. B., p. 886-887), so God fittingly put Israel under a "curse," a qelalah, a noun derivative of the same verb, qalal (Ibid.), sending Israel serpents with a painful, poisonous (fiery) bite, Numbers 21:6 KJV; Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Numbers 21:6:
        1. When man first sinned, part of God's curse was that the seed of the woman would have his heel bruised by the serpent, and the heel of her seed would crush the serpent's head, Gen esis 3:1-15.
        2. An exasperated Israel under trial had faithlessly slandered God's manna as being qeloqel, "worthless", so He appropriately put her under a qelalah , a special "curse" to be bitten by poisonous serpents that carried a painful, lethal bite!
      4. The people then confessed their sin against God and Moses, and asked Moses to pray that the serpents be removed, Numbers 21:7.
      5. However, due to Israel's need for consistent obedience, the Lord did not remove the serpents, but gave a teaching solution: Moses was to make a bronze serpent and raise it up on a pole as a cursed object in that position (Deut. 21:23), so if anyone bitten looked at it in faith in God, the curse would transfer from the bitten man to the bronze serpent, and he would live, Num bers 21:8. This way, Israel had to KEEP ON trusting God versus complaining! (Num. 21:9)
  3. In John 3:14-15, Jesus said this event prefigured how He would be lifted up on the cross, becoming a curse as our Sin Bearer (Gal. 3:13-14), that whoever looked in faith to Him would be saved!
Application: (1) May we trust in Christ, "looking to Him" as Israel looked upon the bronze serpent in faith to receive eternal life, John 3:14-15. (2) If facing hard trials, may we (a) not become impatient and complain, but (b) keeping trusting and heeding the Lord. (c) If we fail in this and see God add to our trials, may we confess our sin and return to heeding Him (d) and REMAIN faithful to Him.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 (1) In application of this message, we recall our introduction where Matt Krantz in his February 20, 2012 USA TODAY column, "Ask Matt" noted that "many people" are "grumbling about stocks being down when the Dow is up so much lately," explaining how lots of financial trials have led to this attitude. (Ibid., USA TODAY, p. 4B)

However, we have often observed that Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 teaches that to invest well in businesses and business stocks and stock funds, God directs us to invest (a) aggressively, (b) long-term, (c) fully diversified, and (d) regularly add to our investments, or "dollar cost average" where one regularly buys stocks or stock funds at a set dollar amount to enhance his gain by taking big advantage of market dips.

Well, IF we had faithfully applied this directive the last ten years, one of the worst decades in the history of the market, the pain most investors face would not be affecting us now! Mr. Krantz noted: "(I)nvestors who stayed the course are doing fine . . . [those who had] long-term plans and stuck with them, have taken advantage of the market crash and have profited as a result." (Ibid., emphases ours)

(2) The value of such faithful self-discipline was also illustrated in psychologist Walter Mischel's 1972 "Marshmallow Test": he "put a marshmallow on the table and told each child" tested "that if he (or she) waited 15 minutes to eat it, he would get a second one as a reward.

"About two-thirds of the kids failed the experiment. Some gave in immediately and gobbled up the marshmallow; videotape shows others in agony, trying to discipline themselves -- some even banging their little heads on the table.

"But the most interesting results . . . came years later. Researchers followed up on the children to see how their lives were turning out. The kids who didn't take the marshmallow had average SAT scores 210 points higher than the kids who ate it immediately. They were less likely to drop out of college, made far more money, were less likely to go to jail, and suffered from fewer drug and alcohol problems." (Arthur C. Brooks, "Obama's Budget Flunks the Marshmallow Test," The Wall Street Journal, 2/24/2012, p. A13)

May we obey God for blessing in trials, and, may we NOT fail to KEEP trusting and obeying Him or He will let the trials intensify to teach us to KEEP ON heeding Him! May we find God's forgiveness for failure here, and so return to His blessing!