Psalm 78:41, "Yea,
they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel."
This morning,
society increasingly slides downward in many directions. Oftentimes we see and
hear the moral decline and degradation that goes on around us. Yet, one way
that modern humanity continues to decline - though it is not often discussed -
is the celebration of mediocrity. In times such as these, people do not realize
the potential of a great many situations and circumstances, for there is no
motivation to do so. When medium to low grades in school are celebrated, what
motivation is there for the student to do better? When the performance of
job-related duties (our job descriptions) is met with praise as if it was
something special, what motivates the employee to go "over and abound" when they
have the ability to do so? When coming to church every so often, reading our
Bible from time to time, and doing a good deed here and there makes someone a
"good person" in the eyes of their peers, what motivates someone to put on the
full wardrobe of discipleship in this world? I heard a good example from a
fellow minister not long ago that stated, "When you set your standard at 10 feet
above the world, you may stay 10 feet above the world, but if the world keeps
getting worse, then you are getting worse even though still 10 feet above the
world."
Our study verse
above is in the midst of an often told account: the journeys of the children of
Israel from Egypt to Canaan. This story is found and repeated in the writings
of Moses, Stephen's sermon in Acts 7, as well as many other places in
Scriptures. The reason that this story is so vitally important as to be
repeated so many times is that these people are our examples. (I Corinthians
10:6) Sadly, they are oftentimes an example of what not to do instead of what to
do, but another reason that these accounts should stay so vitally fresh unto us
is from their description of God and His behaviour. Even though we are not the
Israelites of old, God's actions and thinking about His children's actions in
this world is ever the same today as it was then. Therefore, while the
Israelites are examples for us today, these accounts should serve as a great
guidepost for our expectations of God's actions and thinking regarding our
lives.
Since God does not
change (Malachi 3:6), then what He considered wrong then is still wrong today.
What He upheld as righteous then is still righteous today. Before launching
into the thoughts of this verse, let us quickly make one comment about the
overall principle of this story. Whether one reads this account from this
Psalm, Hebrews 3-4, I Corinthians 10, or a related account like Ezekiel 16, one
thing stands out prominently. The people fell over and over again. Likewise,
God chastised them over and over again. Yet, through it all and in spite of
everything that these people did, God never quit loving them. God never forsook
them utterly and left them forever and for all time. Such a contrast should
stay with us today. God chastises me over and over again for my repeated
failures before Him, but take solace dear friends, He will NEVER quit loving us
or forsake us utterly in this world or the world to come.
Our verse deals with
one of those "down moments" when the children of Israel forsook the Lord by
tempting Him and disobeying His commandments. One might make a case that this
particular portion of the passage deals with them at the banks of Canaan
refusing to go in at the evil report of the 10 spies. While not specific, the
language could certainly point to that. As a result of that particular
occasion, God pronounced judgment on an entire generation of people. With the
exceptions of Caleb and Joshua, everyone 20 years old and above would never get
into that wonderfully blessed land. But, whether that is the particular account
under consideration in our verse or not, let us look at the last phrase that has
some particularly intriguing language.
The Psalmist says
that they "limited" God. Considering what the Bible says about God's power,
understanding, etc. it seems an interesting statement to say that man "limited"
God. Oftentimes, I see people "attempt" to limit God by saying that "God has
done all He can do, and now it is up to you to accept Jesus." We understand
that such erroneous teaching does not in actuality limit God in the way that it
is promoted. God still saves and has redeemed all those that He intended, nor
will He lose one from His sight. So, what does a phrase like "limited the Holy
One of Israel" mean?
We read another
interesting and similar statement in Mark 6:5, when it declares that Jesus
"could there do no mighty work." Certainly Jesus - fully God and fully man -
was not in some sense diminished in power. When He laid aside His glory to
descend into this earth in fleshly form, He did not cease being the Omnipotent
God of this universe. (Revelation 19:6) The statement that He basically "could
not do something" was not a description of His ability. Rather, it was a
description of His willingness coupled with their perception of HIs actions.
Now, let us bring
both our verse and the statement from Mark together and look at them in the lens
of God's will and our perception of Him. Standing there on the banks of Jordan
in Numbers 13, God was quite willing for His children to enter Canaan's Land.
He even encouraged Moses to send spies into the land to confirm the goodness of
the land that He had promised them. God did not command this activity to "see
if we can really do this or not." God commanded this for eyewitnesses to show
and confirm that "God is right." Everything He said is exactly the way it is.
With His continued help, we shall certainly be blessed. Yet, when only Caleb
and Joshua said that, multitudes suffered lasting consequences when God's
willingness ceased.
The people on this
occasion failed to realize the full potential of God's blessings unto them by
limiting Him, His ability, and His promises in the courtroom of their own mind
and perception. God said yes they could, and they said, "No we can't!" Back in
Mark 6, Christ kept plainly declaring that He was sent from the Father, He is
God the Son, and here are these mighty works to corroborate what He
is declaring. The people kept saying, "We don't believe you." As such, one
might make the case that no matter what Christ did, they would not have accepted
His Person nor thought He was certifiably the Christ and Messiah. As such, He
"could there do no mighty work" as they would not have perceived it or Him as
mighty. By such an unwillingness to accept the great power of the occasion,
Christ was thereby unwilling to perform as many miracles there as He would have
and did in other places.
For the sake of
space and time, let us move the discussion to our lives and this present time.
How often do people settle for a lesser standard in their lives due to some
perception? Whether the student in the classroom seeing no reason to strive
higher, the employee seeing no monetary benefit for doing his all, or the
church-goer seeing no reason to disciple more, the general point holds true. If
you do not try any harder than to get an 85% on an exam, 800 will never be
realized. In the spiritual kingdom, if we do not try for perfection, how many
blessings will be lost and unrealized along the journey? While we realize that
perfection is not possible, that should be the goal.
How often does God
make the promise to bless us with His kind and gracious presence when we walk in
obedience to the truth? The teaching is richly and abundantly found throughout
Scripture. Yet, how much of that do I fail to realize by settling for less than
I could perform? Many times, ministers are posed with the statements, "I just
don't get much out of church. I don't get much out of Bible reading. My
prayers don't ever seem to go anywhere." While the response should gently lead
and nudge them along, the short but blunt answer could be that they limited God
in their own mind. How oftentimes do we attend church, read our Bibles, or pray
with the underlying thought, "Well here I am like I'm supposed to be"?
Dear ones, church
services get sweeter the more we put into them, Bible reading becomes more
enriching the more devoted energy (not just time but time and energy) that we
devote to it, and prayer feels the sweetness of God's breeze the more humbly and
reverently we enter into it. When our mind limits God by limiting His
occasions, He will many times limit HIs presence and interaction with us. His
willingness to dwell with us and enrich our service will diminish. Yet, we
should never attach a conception that Him being unwilling equates to Him being
unable or without power to do so. So oftentimes, He mercifully blesses us so
far better than we deserve, but hopefully our desire with each passing day is to
realize more and more of His blessings and presence with us.
We are approaching a
time of the calendar when people make resolutions of sorts. Maybe they will try
to lose weight, make more money, etc. May we daily resolve to meet more and
more of the potential of service and interaction with God. May we attend more
worship services this year than last, may we read more of the Bible this year
than last, may we pray more this year than last, and may our obedience to His
cause shine brighter this year than last. By doing so, may a whole area of
God's special presence and power be felt in, with, and among us.
In Hope,
Bro Philip
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