The Israelites grumbled against the Lord again... Think about it... How often does the children grumble against us, the parents? Children will test parental authority. To aviod rebelliousness you'll need to have consistent discipline. You will need to have in place clear expectations. You will need to formulate and explain your policies, and of course know your child's capabilities. Consistent follow through; you (yourself) need to be self-disciplined to see that your expetations are met.
There are natural consequences and/or your consequences the children will have to experience. For example, a child whose clothing isn't placed in the dirty clothes basket may not have clean clothes when Thursday comes again. If there are no natural consequences you will need to find some.
Praise. Practice praise and soon or later they will hug you. This is so important because this will build their confidence. The children will know that Dad and Mom are proud of them. Don't forget to say to the children, "I Love You" regularly.
Short and Sweet,
Sandj
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Read it and will comment tomorrow... trying to read another book at the same time and need to take advantage of the quiet time I've got right now.
ReplyDeletesandJ
Chapter 13: verse 16... why did Moses change Hoshea's name to Joshua?... any significance in meaning?
ReplyDeleteverse 18-20... I would guess that they were being sent to see the land in order to add the the psyched up attitude of the Israelites... you know, like, "tell us how great it is?!"... but they didn't do that... instead, they complained and spread fear throughout the people (see verse 26-33)... how often do I do that? God gives me a great gift (like Salvation or even something less significant), and I complain about it, say how I could have done it better, talk about how it's not so great, refuse to share the truth about it, or let my own fear and uncertainty mess it up not only for me but for everyone else?
verse 23... big grapes?
verse 27... God is telling the truth about the land... it is awesome and as great as we've been told, but...
verse 28... we don't really want it because it would be too hard for us to do and we're too chicken... how often do we let our own human weakness get in the way of claiming what God is giving us? When will we realize and trust God for who He is?... also, a comment on the big and scary people (the Anak)... they are giants who were the heroes of old (see Genesis 6:4)... they were there before the flood and still after, too? How?
Chapter 14: verse 1... negativity is a bad thing... look at the trouble misplaced doubt can bring!... we must watch our attitudes as our words have great power and our attitudes can have ill-effects
ReplyDeleteverse 4... attempted mutiny
verse 9... you are scared of them, but not scared of God?! Are you crazy... God is with us and He can wipe them out... but if He can wipe them out, and we're punier than them, than He can certainly wipe us out
verse 11-12... how can I get in through their heads that I am God and they are MY people?... their fear should be of God, not of man... but again, they focus on what they can see (see 2 corinthians 4:8,9,18)
verse 16... interesting how Moses always persuaded God not to kill the people by reminding Him that He did not want His name defamed
verse 17-19... Ok, this part kind of made me smile (in a 'glad its not me' kind of way)... since they chose to make stuff up about God, God decides to add validity to their accusations... makes me think how I want to be careful in what I accuse God of in my life, even if I don't like how things are going I still need to remain focued on the truth of God and not lean toward making stuff up to fit my irritation and fuel my rant
verse 34... I never knew that this was why they had to wait 40 years... I just assumed that was how long the older generations would take to die off... so it was one year for each of the 40 days they were gone to check out the land... interesting
verse 37... God got rid of the grumblers immediately so they wouldn't spread any more trouble among the people
verse 39...finally they were upset, but were they really crying because they were repentent or because they were punished? How often do we cry because we got caught and don't want to pay the consequences? What does it take to make us truly repentant?... when I look at this it reminds me of a saying I heard in my childhood: at least now you have something to cry about... why do we waste our time and emotions bemoaning things without value or consequence?
verse 40-44... Why obey now when they didn't want to before? To avoid punishment? Too late now... now they are disobeying a second time... God wants first time obedience... we can't whine Him into seeing things are way (wow... I wish I had His will as a parent, myself)... I just don't get why now, when it was too late, would they want to obey when they didn't then?
verse 45... still disobeying... why do we go without God before, and when we fall on our butts, we then expect it to be better if we go without God again after? why do we think we can do things better in our own way instead of following God's way? If they didn't think they could defeat them with God (who ___ [insert and number of miracles here]), how did they expect to defeat them without God... did they just forget how they were shaking in their boots a moment ago? We need to remember to just stick with God completely and save a lot of self-imposed grief and pain!
Chapter 15: I did not do the research, but it might be worth looking at how these compare to the previous instructions
ReplyDeleteverse 2... I thought it interesting that they wouldn't be going into the land for 40 years, but God is giving them the instructions now... I wonder why?
verse 16... reminds me of the New Testament where God reminds the people that it is the same for everyone, both Jew and Gentile... I guess I always thought that was a New Testament thing, but really God has always been all inclusive, as He always includes instructions for the alien and foreigner who want to worship Him... I wonder why the Israelites thought it was all about them, if God was flat out telling them He would accept anyone who obeyed Him (and that applied to the Israelites, too)... before God just required the symbol of circumcision to set people apart as His, but He allowed anyone to partake in this symbol... in the New Testament, God is not changing who He allows, He is just changing the symbol of what signifies people as His people (see Romans 3, specifically verse 29; also, Hebrews 13:8)... I guess we try to make it about us, now, though, too, huh, and sometimes we act like just because we were blessed to be among the few who have heard of Jesus that that somehow makes us better than others who haven't heard... when in reality we forget that without Jesus we were, and still would be, nothing... it's all about God... not about us
verse 22-29... God is still looking for us to confess our sins, have a repentant heart, and then He will forgive us... same as in New Testament (Romans 10:9-13)... only difference is that Jesus was our one-time-for-all sacrifice, where as in Old Testament they had to offer a sacrifice each time they sinned (see Hebrews 10, specifically verse 10-12).
verse 30-31... here is more about how blasphemy against God is an unforegivable sin... here blasphemy is defined as sinning defiantly or intentionally against God (remember Leviticus 24, and also see Mark 3:28-29)
verse 32-36... hmmm... not sure what to make of this one... especially since Jesus did stuff on the Sabbath all the time, like heal people and gather food (see Mark 2:23-28)... Jesus talks in Mark 2 about how He is over the Sabbath, so maybe He is just trying to show yet again that He is not a mere human, but in fact, God? I don't know... any thoughts or insights on this?
verse 37-41... cool... reminds me of how people wear cross necklaces and such today to remind us of Jesus and how we are saved by grace... and to help us refocus ourselves on how we should live as God's children... wouldn't be very good to have on a t-shirt that says "Jesus Loves You" as you cut someone off in traffic and then curse them out, huh... probably less likely to yell at your kids in the car if there is a big cross hanging from your rear view mirror... etc... I think this has the same reminder idea behind it :)