Numbers 26:64-65 “64 But among these there was not a man of those who were numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest, who numbered the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. 65 For the LORD had said of them, ‘They shall surely die in the wilderness.’ And not a man was left of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.”

TRUE TO HIS WORD

40 years earlier God had laid down the consequences for rebellion by the adults (20 years and older) who had refused to listen to the counsel of Caleb and Joshua and claim the Promised Land.  Now here we are right before they are going to enter Canaan, for the second time, and all those who had been alive back then were gone.

God keeps His word.  Whether that means the promises He makes to us for blessing or the promises He makes to us for discipline.  God demands justice.  Praise be God that He has sent His perfect Son to be the propitiation for our sins, or we would be just like those adults who died in the wilderness.  No hope, no blessing.

TEACHING MOMENT

You need to be true to your word to your children.  They need to know that when you say you are going to do something, you are going to do it.  That can mean something good or it can mean following through with discipline.  They will learn from you that your word means something.

You are, in a sense, modeling God’s behavior to them.  Just as He is consistent, you need to be consistent.  Just as He follows through with promises made, you need to follow through with promises made.  AND just as God extends mercy through His Son Jesus, you have the opportunity to extend mercy when they do not deserve it.  But make sure they understand that is what you are doing and not just feeling sorry for them.

How are you doing, Mom and Dad?  Are you following through?  They say (and I sure wouldn’t know, lol) that the key to a great golf swing is the follow through.  That gives you a better shot.  The same is true with raising children.  You need a good follow through.  Be consistent.  Be like Him.

Numbers 24:25 “Then Balaam arose and departed and returned to his place, and Balak also went his way.”

Most of you have heard the story about Balaam, and you probably only remember the part about the talking donkey.  But there was so much more to the story.  Balak, the King of Moab, offered Balaam a great sum of money and honor if he would curse the Israelites.  You see, Balaam was a prophet and supposedly heard from the gods.  But Balaam was not a true prophet of Yahweh.

The whole story shows how Balaam got a kick out of the attention he was getting.  Even after a donkey talked to him and the One True God spoke to him, he does not change his ways.  He continues to be a prophet for hire.  The verse above says he “arose and departed and returned to his place.”  And for that lack of change, his life is taken by the Israelites in battle.

TEACHING MOMENT

When God speaks to us we should be changed.  We should be on our face in awe and reverence when the Lord decides to speak into our lives with truth and glory.  Our children will observe how we react to God’s activity in our lives.  It is so important for us to show them the proper way to respond to a Holy God.

When we, as a family, have faced a life decision, we have tried our best to explain to our children why we were doing what the Lord asked us.  We made many moves in ministry based solely on the fact that we knew the Lord was directing us.   Some of the moves made no sense at the time, but looking back we can see the hand of God all over it.

How can you as parents speak into your children to cause change?  By being changed yourself!  You have to show your children what change looks like.  You have to allow them to experience your change.  Listen friends, when God speaks things happen.  There should be a change of focus and direction based on how and when He speaks to us.

Will you today allow the Lord to change you, whatever that means?  Will you submit to His authority in your lives?  Or is He going to have to send a talking donkey to you?

Proverbs 19:24 “The sluggard buries his hand in the dish, but will not even bring it back to his mouth.”

Have you ever see a truly, lazy person?   I remember as a young boy going to a play that my dad was in.  It was entitled “Too Tired To Move.”  The whole play was set with the characters lying around the stage talking but never moving.  They all had the same excuse.  They were all just too tired to move.

I am thankful my dad taught me a strong work ethic.  I was mowing yards and holding down part time jobs at a young age.  In fact, my dad even built my brother and I a small trailer to pull behind our Cub Cadet mower to haul our push mower and gas can.  We had a lawn care business way before that was popular.  I bought my first car from my earnings.

TEACHING MOMENT

Teach your children this proverb.  Laziness will never allow them to be all the Lord wants them to be.  Our children need to learn to be productive citizens.  Boys need to learn how to provide for their families.  Girls need to learn how to be motivated to start their own career or care for their families.  Give your children chores to do to learn how to work.

Our society today tells us to protect our children’s feelings.  I agree.  We should never intentionally try to hurt our children emotionally.  But we have gone so far in this direction that we have not challenged our children either.  Encourage your children to excel.  Encourage your children to do their very best.  That is our job – to prepare them to be ready to leave our nest.

Parents, listen to me!  Don’t keep your children as children.  Don’t be guilty of not allowing them to fail.  Failure can teach our children so much.  Help them learn from these failures and apply God’s Word to each situation.  The last thing you want is for your child to feel entitled and dependent on you forever.  The best thing we can do for our children is to teach them to depend solely on the Lord, Who is the provider of all things.

Numbers 20:12 “But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.’”

DO JUST WHAT I SAID

To get the full context you really need to read Numbers 20:2-12, but for this devotional thought I just gave you the last verse.  Do you remember the story?  The people were murmuring, once again, this time for water.  Moses goes before God, and He tells him to SPEAK to a rock and water will come forth.  But Moses takes the rod and hits the rock twice.  He never mentions that God told him to SPEAK to the rock.  In fact, Moses doesn’t either.  He speaks to the people and then hits the rock.

Did Moses go to the rock?  Did water come out?  Yes to both questions, but did Moses follow the Lord’s instructions?  No, and because of that disobedience he was not allowed to enter the Promised Land.  Sounds harsh, doesn’t it?

TEACHING MOMENT

Our disobedience, no matter how slight, has consequences.  Our children must know that.  They must know that half obeying is still disobeying.  They must know that telling a half lie is still lying.  Are we going to kick them out the family for that?  Hardly.  But we must be consistent in handing out discipline.  Otherwise, they think they can partially obey.

This may sound too hard for some of you parents.  Sorry!  I just see way too many parents not being firm with their children when it comes to disobedience.  I have seen the results of that from 38 years of ministry to children and youth.  Trust me, you don’t want to let your children “get by” with things that will cost them dearly in the future.

But what about you, Mom and Dad?  What are you trying to get by with?  What are you half obeying?  Are you listening to the Lord and then picking out which parts you want to obey?  Are you reading His Word and then following only the parts that fit into your lifestyle.  Stop!  Obey!  Be blessed!

Proverbs 17:28 “Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.”

WISE WORDS

I heard once that President Abraham Lincoln paraphrased this verse by saying, “Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”  How true!  But some people just can’t stop their tongue, it seems.  They have to have the last word.  They have to “put in their two cents worth” when we wouldn’t give them a “penny for their thoughts.”  Okay, that is enough clichés.

Have you known many wise people?  The ones I have known don’t say much, but when they do speak you want to listen.  They take in all the conversations around them and seriously ponder them before saying a word.  I have a friend like that.  He is in his 80’s now.  You can just see the wisdom on his face.  When he explains a verse or passage you had better have a pen in hand because you are going to want to remember exactly what he says.

TEACHING MOMENT

Our children need to find people like that in their lives.  Hopefully, we parents can be a wise advisor to them.  But we have to admit that we do not have all the wisdom we need either.  It is not a challenge to our parenthood to find others to whom our children can go for advice.

We also need to advise our children to “keep their mouths shut” sometimes.  Some kids just love to hear themselves talk.  They jabber and jabber and jabber.  They talk without thinking sometimes.  They will get in petty arguments about things that don’t matter.  They need to hear this verse.

How about you, Mom and Dad?  How do you talk to each other?  Are you so insistent to get the last word that you don’t even hear what the other person is saying?  Are you formulating your answer before they have even paused in their words to you?  Stop it!  Listen!  Before you say a single word, ask the Lord to give you the words He wants you to speak.  That would be wise!

Numbers 15:41 “I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord your God.”

OUT OF SIGHT…

As I have gotten older my memory is not as good as it used to be.  I have to make lists now to remember things.  Thank goodness for smartphones.  I can make my list in my notes app and have it with me wherever I go…as long as I don’t forget my phone.  Lol

The Lord is reminding the people, once again, that He is the One who delivered them.  He is their God.  Why did God have to keep reminding them?  Were they that forgetful?  Had they forgotten all they had seen Him do in Egypt and on their way to the Promised Land?  Obviously, they were doubting Him again.

TEACHING MOMENT

Are you constantly reminding your children to do their chores or clean their room or brush their teeth or….you fill in the blank.  It seems as parents that we have to tell our children over and over to get them to comply.  It probably is NOT a matter of them forgetting.  They are probably just NOT focused on listening to you.  They had rather do it their way in their own time.

This passage speaks wonderfully to that.  The Hebrew children had been fighting against God and doubting Him since they left Egypt.  God had to remind them that He had not changed.  He still loved them and had a plan for them, but they had to listen to Him.  He had to have their attention.  Sound familiar?  I bet it does.

Before we jump on our kids for listening to us, we need to examine our own lives.  Are we listening to our heavenly Father?  Are we attentive to His instructions for our life, instructions that when followed lead us in the right direction?  If you are like me, I think I have a better way.  But usually my way bombs.

Will you, just for a second, drop what you are doing and focus on Him?  Listen!  Closely!  What is He saying?

Numbers 13:2 “’Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.’”

WHO?

So, do you remember these names from the Bible?  Shammua, Shaphat, Igal, Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi, and Geuel.  Of course not.  But you do remember Joshua and Caleb.  These twelve men were the spies Moses sent into the land of Canaan to explore and bring back a scouting report.  You know the story.  Joshua and Caleb were ready to go in, but the other 10 men (whom you never hear from again in Scripture) had another opinion.

These 10 men, instead of leading their tribes into the Promised Land, led them into 40 years of wandering in the desert.  They became forgotten men.  No one shouts their names.  No one tells their story.  They failed at a time when leadership mattered.

TEACHING MOMENT

Our children must learn that decisions have consequences.  Their decisions now can have an impact on the lives of their future generations.  Now, I don’t mean their sins are passed down. We know that isn’t the case in Christ.  But decisions our children make now can impact their future families.

So, how do we teach them to make the right decisions?  Once again, Moms and Dads, you have to be the example.  You have to make decisions that honor the Lord every day.  They will learn from watching you.  Will you give up your desires for the good of your family?  Will you let them in on your decision process?

The Lord wants us to trust Him. He wanted those 10 men to trust Him in Canaan.  If they had only realized the same God who had divided the waters, led them by cloud and fire, gave them manna and quail, gave them water from a rock and had rescued them from Egyptian bondage would also defeat the giants.

How about you?  Will you trust Him today?  Let the generations to come shout your name in honor.  Let your name be the one remembered for leading your family into victory through Christ.

Numbers 11:6b “There is nothing at all to look at except this manna.”

CONTENTMENT

“The manna is getting old,” they said.  If only they had known what they were asking.  They were about get exactly what they asked for.  Now, before you judge them too harshly, stop and think a minute.  Haven’t you done the same thing?

We have been blessed beyond measure, but we basically say the same thing these folks said.  “God, I’m really tired of what you have blessed me with that keeps me alive.  I really want something fresh and new.”

TEACHING MOMENT

The next time your child complains about their computer being too slow or not having the latest fashion, read them this passage.  But make sure you are doing the same thing.  We can’t tell our kids they don’t need what they are asking for and then run out and buy ourselves the latest tech gadget.

Our children need to learn contentment, but we can’t describe that to them.  They need to see us being content with what the Lord has given us.  Don’t you want your children to live contented lives?  Then live one yourself.  Don’t you want your children to learn to enjoy God’s blessings?  Then don’t take them for granted yourselves.

God sustained His people in the wilderness for 40 years on manna.  If He did that, don’t you think He can handle your needs?  I just wonder when they arrived in the Promised Land if any of them thought back to the manna.  I wonder if any of them wish they had just one more taste of the “bread from heaven.”  When you learn to live day by day depending on God, you realize you can only live one day at a time anyway.

Numbers 9:15-18 “15 Now on the day that the tabernacle was erected the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and in the evening it was like the appearance of fire over the tabernacle, until morning. 16 So it was continuously; the cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. 17 Whenever the cloud was lifted from over the tent, afterward the sons of Israel would then set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the sons of Israel would camp. 18 At the command of the Lord the sons of Israel would set out, and at the command of the Lord they would camp; as long as the cloud settled over the tabernacle, they remained camped.”

WAITING

It was important to give you all these verses today to get the full context of the movement of God through the cloud over the tabernacle.  Can you imagine the sight?  The millions of people would wait until the cloud moved before they moved.  Every morning the first thing they would do is look toward the tabernacle (toward the presence of God) and see what He wanted to do that day.

Their schedule was God’s schedule. If the cloud lingered that day, they stayed.  If it lifted and started to move, they followed.  You should really read the whole chapter to get the complete picture.  It was pretty amazing.

TEACHING MOMENT

We don’t have a cloud to follow, but we do have the Spirit of God in our lives who can lead us.  That’s the lesson for our children.  They must listen to the Spirit.  They must allow Him to lead them.  As they seek answers to life’s mysteries, they must turn to the Spirit of God Who lives within them (if they are a believer) and trust that He knows best when and how to move them.

Parents, we must model this for our children.  We must be willing to follow the leading of the Spirit of God in our family’s lives.  Where is He leading you?  Has He been leading you in one direction, but you have stayed put, or worse, have you gone in the other direction?

Wherever you are right now, stop!  Look to Him!  He should be the center of your life, just as the tabernacle was the center of the camp.  Let Him guide your every movement.

Proverbs 12:4 “An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who shames him is like rottenness in his bones.”

Did you know that the word used in this verse for “excellent” can be translated as “army”?  Isn’t that a hoot?  I mean, come on!  Think about it!  The Holy Spirit inspired the writer of this proverb to use that particular word to describe the wife of a man.  Why?  Why not another word like beautiful or sweet or smart.

Because this word also has the idea of steadfastness, strength, virtuous.  That describes the woman who brings honor and recognition (the crown) to her husband.  I am blessed to have such a wife.  She brings me honor because she is an excellent wife.  She is virtuous and steadfast and strong.  She is an army of one.  Lol

TEACHING MOMENT

I do not want to come across today as sexist.  I am not. But I want to address this verse to parents of little girls.  Don’t you want them to bring honor to their husbands?  Don’t you want them to be an excellent wife?  Then you must begin now training them to be steadfast and strong.  You must train them to be grounded in their beliefs and in God’s Word.

As we train our little girls to be like that, they will grow up and become those excellent wives (should they choose to marry) to their husbands.  They will be that crown.  They will cause their husbands to walk with pride, not because of anything the husband himself has done, but because of the dignity or virtue of your little girl.  What a proud moment for parents.

So Parents, will you dedicate yourselves to putting your daughter through boot camp to become that army?  She cannot do it without you.  She needs you to get her ready.  She will face many enemies along the way.  Some will question her virtue.  You must defend it.  Some will challenge her beliefs.  You must give her the knowledge from God’s Word.

Whatever you do, remember you are raising “an excellent wife” who will be fighting for her husband and children.  Get her ready!