Today’s Tasting: Numbers 35-36: In these last two chapters of the Book of Numbers, God makes sure that the Levites are provided for, by giving Moses very specific instructions to make that happen. If we remember back a few chapters, the Levites were the ones charged with caring for the temple and were not included in the second census (Chapter 26) that was used to divide the land among the Israelites. Here God tells Moses to instruct the Israelites to give part of their inheritance to the tribe of Levi so they could establish cities to dwell in. God also protects the inheritance of each tribe by giving Moses laws for women who were heirs: they could only marry within their tribe, to prevent the land from passing from one tribe to another.
Today’s Nourishment: God’s grace resonates throughout the last few chapters of the Book of Numbers. Regardless of how many times the Israelites turned away from Him, doubted Him, or rose up against Him, He still delivered on his promise to them. He still forgave them!
Have you ever done something, or had something done to you, that you believed was unforgivable? How did it make you feel to carry around the negativity associated with not forgiving? Forgiveness is so important—not only for the person you’re forgiving, but also for you.
In Matthew chapter 6 we learn “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (verses 14-15).
The concept of true forgiveness took me a while to wrap my head around. It was easy to accept that God forgave me. However, I discovered it was not so easy for me to forgive myself or to forgive others.
Do you say you forgive—yourself or others—yet hold on to the anger or guilt? While I was working to understand forgiveness, I discovered that as long as I carried the anger or guilt, I could not find peace and joy.
In Hebrews 10:17, we are told by the Holy Spirit that the Lord says, “their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” If we are going to live Christ-like lives, it is important that we too forgive and remember no more. We have to let go of the old hurts and allow our hearts to be healed. We need to pray as Jesus taught us,
“‘Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.’” (Matthew 6:9-13)
Tomorrow’s Delight: Deuteronomy 1-2
Monica
https://www.facebook.com/wholelottasomethin
Yes forgiveness brings peace and it brings freedom. There is nothing that will keep you more bound up than unforgiveness. Thank You Lord for forgiving me of my sins so I can live the life Yo have for me.
Yes, the Christian life is all about forgiveness. As you stated, He forgives us. And, then we are to learn to walk in forgiveness by forgiving ourselves and others. The initial forgiving of self and others turned out to be the most difficult for me. Once I found the peace and joy that forgiving myself and others bring, I try to practice this nightly. We are admonished in scripture, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26-27). This is a major message of God’s Word and one of my most frequent topics in teaching the Bible and living the Christ-full life. Thanks for sharing it.
I haven’t definitely learned how important forgiveness is and that holding grudges gets you nothing but more hurt and no peace or joy. Forgiveness is one of those subjects where you sometimes ask yourself well, how many times do you expect me to forgive this or that and then you think about how the Lord forgives us. Not only does He forgive us, he forgets it! That is awesome and something I’ll never be able to explain but I sure am thankful for forgiveness.