June 24

Happy Monday. It’s been a rainy weekend and lots of flooding in our part of the country. Lots of homes and property has been damaged severely and the creeks and lakes are over flowing. The lake is so full, the boat ramps are under water and there is so much debris from the rivers, no one could be on it anyway. It’s a mess but please pray for those who have been hit hard through all these storms. 


When the Israelites sanded in the wilderness, they had the exact opposite problem. The desert in Isrrael/Jordan is bleak. It’s just dirt/sand and occasionally you see this little sprig of grass. When we were there, we had temperatures over 100 degrees and I thought about them and how oppressive that must have been during the summer months. It was a nasty place with very little there. They had to depend on God for their food; the desert certainly didn’t give it up. 


After listening the complainers (of which I would have been the chief) and all the mess he went through for 40 years, it doesn’t seem fair he couldn’t go into the land they’d been headed. But he did get to see it. 


When Moses looked into the promised land, he saw a very good place—a place that would house and support his people for many generations. He was sad he couldn’t enter in, but he was resolved that he had followed God in the leading. 


When we visited Mt Nebo, it was almost a surreal moment for me. To stand a look over the land as Moses did 5,000 years ago made the hair stand up on my arms. I had trouble with words. I looked from every direction and just pictured the 120 year old guy. 


“Then Moses went up to Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab and climbed Pisgah Peak, which is across from Jericho. And the Lord showed him the whole land, from Gilead as far as Dan; all the land of Naphtali; the land of Ephraim and Manasseh; all the land of Judah, extending to the Mediterranean Sea; the Negev; the Jordan Valley with Jericho—the city of palms—as far as Zoar. Then the Lord said to Moses, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have now allowed you to see it with your own eyes, but you will not enter the land.””

‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭34:1-4‬ ‭NLT‬‬


Then, I saw the metal sculpture. The cross with the snake just took my breath. It wasn’t a glorious piece of art or anything, but what it symbolized just nearly brought me to my knees. 


“Then the Lord told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!”

‭‭Numbers‬ ‭21:8-9‬ ‭NLT‬‬


Then, about 1500 years or so later, Jesus refers to it when He is speaking to Nicodemus one night. 


“Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”

‭‭John‬ ‭3:10-17‬ ‭NLT‬‬


How great is our God? And blessed to stand on the spots and feel the air and know this was the very place Jesus chose to live His life in human form. From Magnala seeing Peter’s mother house and the time in the temple to Kursi and seeing the caves to Mt Carmel to the Jordan River to the Sea of Galilee. As my friend Randy said “This place is the bedrock of our faith!”


Lord Jesus we love you and praise you. Thank you for giving yourself so that we may live life abundantly. You are h

The Healer and Redeemer and our friend. We praise you for your goodness and your grace and we are so thankful you don’t hold our “complaining” against us. We are weak but praise your name, you are strong for us. Today Lord, be with our friends and loved ones are troubled emotionally and physically. We pray for a healing touch as we call their names out to you. The Lord our God is one. Help us to love you with all our hearts and minds and souls. Amen and amen. 


Love you dear one,

Pam


Pictures of the wilderness and Mt Nebo are on FB. 


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