I've been reading through Leviticus and Numbers in the Bible and watching as the Israelites continue to mess up, yet God gives them yet another chance. It is easy to think about how foolish those people were. Sinning against God, time and time again, being punished, suffering setbacks, repenting, then turning around to fail God again. What is wrong with those ungrateful folks? Always complaining about the food and the lack of water! Grumbling about being brought to this place to die. Chapters and chapters of conflict. And poor Moses; taking all their dissension to the Lord; pleading on behalf of those dirty rotten humans.
Then I step back from the story and think about my own life. I'm just like those Israelites. How many times have I come to God praying for His guidance and direction, to only weeks later take a side road in the opposite direction? Getting myself so far off track that I have to stumble and fall then come crawling back to God, begging for His forgiveness and asking once again for His help...failing to learn from my mistakes, forgetting what happened the last 10 times.
"God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?" (Numbers 23:19 NLT).
I can almost picture God, sitting on His Holy throne as I beg for His help once again. He must shake His head and think, "Here she comes again. Why can't she get it right this time? My uniquely created humans just don't get it. I gave them Jesus and the Helper and sometimes they still can't make the right choice."
Jesus came to satisfy my debt and to bridge the gap between God's perfection and my humanness.
"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first" (Hebrews 3:12-14 NIV).
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