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Song: Mercy Me Word of God Speak

Scripture
The Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that the Israelites were approaching on the road through Atharim. So he attacked the Israelites and took some of them as prisoners. Then the people of Israel made this vow to the Lord: “If you will hand these people over to us, we will completely destroy all their towns.” The Lord heard the Israelites’ request and gave them victory over the Canaanites. Numbers 21:1-3

Observation
When life goes badly is God against us?

Many think so. Their motto is: “Life bad equals God mad; life good equals God glad”. That is the human race’s most basic theology. The crippling motto transcends every culture and religion. Even Jesus did battle with that corrosive thought. Such a theological proposition sounds plausible enough, but it is deadly wrong. This page from the desert journals of the Jews enables us to leapfrog over this pathetic concept.

Why use the word “pathetic”? Because when we take hard life circumstances as a reflection of God’s face toward us, we freeze in place afraid to move forward lest we cop it more. Instead of moving forward, using the strength God has given to us and the love he showers on us, we grovel in suspicions of the Lord’s intentions toward us. We who are favored sons and daughters of the Most High, behave as the friendless and fatherless. That is pathetic.

The Israelites were still in shock from a hit and run raid by their enemies. Blitzkrieg snatched up friends and family. At that point the people could have given into their feelings of vulnerability. It had been a rocky road through the desert. They had littered the wasteland with grumbling. There was ample evidence that they had ticked God off. They could have huddled in their tents like children afraid of daddy coming home. Instead, they stepped beyond their fear of God’s intent toward them and trusted his love enough to bargain.

Their deal was this: if God would put their enemies into their hands they would in turn scrape the map clean of every town they inhabited. They would have their loved ones back and God would have for himself the beginning of space to create a new nation. God liked the deal and delivered.

To make that deal with God the Jews had to step over the shriveling theology of God’s displeasure. The people risked rejection by probing God’s heart to find out his heart for them. It seemed as if God were against them, but they dared to ask for more. In the asking they discovered what is true for us: God is for us.

We will not discover the smile of God by stalling in the dust of our disaster. We must move beyond setbacks and ask in the road ahead if God will indeed open doors.

Application
There have been tough days in my life when I have believed the criticisms of those who had no interest in my progress and have taken their words as the voice of God. As I reflect over the past I see that God’s eventual blessings proved them all wrong. You loved me…and them…far more than I imagined. I have discovered that when life is bad, God is still good. Faith is the ultimate act of bravery to open the door and to see who is on the other side. The risk of asking a little bit more can open to us kindness brighter than we could ever imagine.

Prayer
Father, no failure is final, including mine because your Son is my Savior. Give me the courage to step past the barricades erected by the fearful and to join where you are fighting for my future. The precious words today are “with” and “for”. God is with me. God is for me. That is reassuringly enough. Amen.