February 26 Numbers 19-20; Psalm 28; Mark 5

These are a few of our SOAP notes from today’s reading. We encourage you to read and journal on your own first, then join us in conversation about what God revealed to YOU today. Click HERE to go directly to the daily reading if you wish. Our team would love the privilege of praying for you! Please share how we can lift you in prayer at DiscoverOneThingPrayer@gmail.com

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Press On | Joni Tyner

S~  “but the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land I am giving them!”  Numbers 20:12 (NLT)

O~ Confession time. I don’t completely understand this scripture.  The Lord is telling Moses and Aaron that because Moses hit the rock with his staff for water instead of just speaking to it, they would not go into the promised land.  I get that Moses didn’t exactly do what God asked, but why such a harsh consequence?  He obviously loved the Lord and was obedient to Him for 40 plus years. He was under lots of stress as the leader of those high maintenance Israelites. (They constantly brought Moses complaints and blamed him for everything!)  It also had to be hard to be constantly on the move for 40 years without a homeland.  So yes, I don’t completely understand why God would keep him from the promised land for, what looks like to my human understanding, adding  bit of drama to the command by whacking the staff on the rock rather than speak to it.  (verse 8—“You and Aaron must take the staff and assemble the entire community. As the people watch, speak to the rock over there, and it will pour out its water. You will provide enough water from the rock to satisfy the whole community and their livestock.” )

A~  Maybe the reason this passage is hard for me to grasp is that I’ve lived my entire Christian life under the umbrella of grace.  I mess up all the time—like daily.  Scripture tells me that our sins are forgiven ( Romans5:15)  and “to all who believed him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.” (Luke1:12)  So, I confess—I don’t get why God was so hard on Moses and Aaron.  What I finally took away from today was that I’m not always going to understand every passage I read.  I believe there are things that we won’t understand on this side of Heaven.  Sometimes, we just need to trust in the character of God when our human knowledge is limited and it doesn’t make sense.  We might not know exactly why God did that, (and other things in the Bible) but we CAN know His character is completely love, fair and unchangeable.   My second application is to simply press on. Keep reading, keep trying!! God has given us both the old and new testament for a purpose. I need to continue to dig in and try to understand hard passages. I might not get it perfect, but I am still moving towards Him and learning more about how He weaves everything together for His perfect will.

P~ Lord, I so grateful I live with faith in Jesus and there is grace for my mess ups. I don’t understand everything in Your Word—but I do trust You and I do love You. Continue to open my eyes to new passages so that I may better comprehend the magnitude of all that You are.

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Choose Trust | Kim Chipman

S~  but the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land I am giving them!”  Numbers 20:12 (NLT)

O~ The Israelites were grumbling (again!) about leaving Egypt and how awful their life was in the wilderness. God instructed Moses to gather the people, speak to a rock, and water would pour out. Moses struck the rock twice instead of speaking to it and water gushed out.

A~ This verse breaks my heart every time I read it. I see it coming and pray it will end differently…Moses has endured so much on behalf of the Israelite people. On many occasions he has begged You not to destroy them all (and succeeded!). But here – one seemingly small misstep and he can’t lead them into the Promised Land! It breaks my heart every time.

What strikes me, though, is the reason you say he can’t lead them. Because he did not TRUST you enough. Trust. How very many circumstances and situations are in my life that give me the opportunity to make this same choice. TRUST. Do I trust Your love for me (outside of my performance…good or bad)? Do I trust Your love of my husband and kids? Do I trust Your justice even when things appear to me to be so unfair? Do I trust that You truly can and will work all things together for the good of those who love You? Do I trust that You filter every circumstance of my life? Do You really see me? Do I trust You? Do I? Often what I SEE (which is painfully limited) and what I know is truth from Your Word don’t add up. So what do I trust? My limited vision and fickle feelings or the truth of Your Word?

Moses didn’t just speak to the rock like You instructed, he added a bit and stuck it twice with his staff. How often is that me? I hear Your instruction but add a little to it and don’t do exactly what You say. And You don’t really say You are disappointed with his ACTIONS as much as his HEART. You wanted his trust. You want MY TRUST.

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P~ I love You, Lord. I fail often, but I see so clearly today how important trust is to You. I see how many opportunities You put in my path to choose You, choose trust, choose humility. Give me the strength, discernment, and self control to choose well. I love You!

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When we need it most | Luisa Penaherrera

S~  O Lord, you are my rock of safety. Please help me; don’t refuse to answer me. For if you are silent, I might as well give up and die. Listen to my prayers for mercy as I cry out to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your holy sanctuary. Psalms 28-1-2 (NLT)

O~ David is praying, crying out to God at the time of his pain and troubles.

A~ Just had a heated discussion with my son the night before. It turned heated because what I was pointing out to my son just somehow turned ugly. My son was offended and my heart went from feeling like I was trying to show him what was wrong with his actions to feeling confused, and at the same time to hurting for my son, while also not understanding what just happened. What went wrong?! So I play it over and over in my head, trying to figure it out. Feeling like a failure because of how it turned out. And so continues the playing it over and over until I read this passage in Psalms.

I can’t figure it out. I don’t know what went wrong; I just know it feels like something did. And I need your perspective. I need you. So I come to you and peace comes over me. Nothing has changed; I haven’t left my room, yet. But my heart is calm and hopeful.

P~ Dear God, thank you. ❤ Thank you that I don’t have to have all the answers (I don’t) and I can always come to you. Like your word says in Hebrews 4:16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

Thank you for loving me so. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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One Touch | Susan Aken

S~ “For she said, ‘If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.’” Mark 5:28 ((NKJV)

O~ What great faith this woman had! She had suffered for 12 years. She heard about Jesus and came up behind him just to touch his clothes. She had faith to believe she would be healed just by touching him and she was. But Jesus gave her more that that by acknowledging her and giving her peace.

A~ This woman perhaps didn’t think herself worthy to come to Jesus face-to-face. She was considered unclean because of her bleeding. Perhaps she didn’t think she was worthy to do more than touch His clothes. By Jewish law, He wasn’t supposed to touch her. Maybe she was used to being considered unclean but she had no doubt Jesus would heal her. She did not even think she had to ask. She knew He had the power of God. Not only was she healed but also Jesus was so kind, calling her daughter and telling her to go in peace. Do I have this kind of faith? Do I realize I can come boldly to the throne of God? I don’t have to creep up behind Him. I don’t have to prove anything. Because of Jesus, I can come directly to Almighty God. This woman didn’t even know about salvation yet. Jesus had not died or rose from the dead yet. But her faith did not doubt. How much more should I come to Him with unshakeable faith knowing that He will answer.

P~ Thank you Jesus for making it possible for me to come directly to you and to the Father. Thank you that you respond to me with love and grace.

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Tomorrow’s reading: Numbers 21-23; Mark 6-7

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