God's desire for His people today is the same as it was for the nation of Israel. He wants us to have a heart to follow Him not for His good but for ours, so that we and our children after us receive the benefit.Deuteronomy 5:29 - O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!

Caleb was recognized and rewarded by God because he wholly and fully followed the Lord...we as Christians should do the same!Deuteronomy 1:36 - Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD.

God described Moses's disobedience as a failure to sanctify God in the eyes of the people. In choosing obedience, we have the opportunity to sanctify or hallow God in the eyes of those around us.Numbers 20:12 - And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.Numbers 27:14 - For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.

Phineas was rewarded for his zealous service for God...do we serve and obey God with the same zeal-the same energy and enthusiasm?Numbers 25:11-13 KJV - Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace:And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.

Salvation requires "beholding" Christ on the cross just as God's people were required to behold the brass serpent in order to experience healing. Beholding is looking with contemplation and understanding.#cross #salvation Numbers 21:9 - And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

As Christians, we need to learn how to rest AND move forward...all at "the commandment of the Lord"Numbers 9:23 - At the commandment of the LORD they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the LORD they journeyed: they kept the charge of the LORD, at the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

In salvation, we can experience both forgiveness AND remission of our sin pictured by the scapegoat being sent into the wilderness on the day of atonement.Leviticus 16:21-22And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

God has done everything to make our cleansing from sin affordable... just like He did for the lepers in the OT. Our cleansing is so affordable, it's free... God's free gift of salvation!Leviticus 14:30-31 - And he shall offer the one of the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, such as he can get; Even such as he is able to get, the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, with the meat offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed before the LORD.

Your high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, always has your name on His heart!Exodus 39:14 - And the stones were according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, every one with his name, according to the twelve tribes.

In my giving to God and others, has God ever had to tell me, "it's too much?"Exodus 36:5-7 - And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make.6 And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.7 For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.