Today's readings are Numbers 14.26-45 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Num.+14.26-45 ), Luke 18.35-19.10 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Luke+18.35-19.10 ), and Number 15.1-41 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Num.+15.1-41 ).
Grumble, grumble, grumble! Today happens to be, you guessed it, that horrendous day - - MONDAY!! How many times have we actively rebelled against God's providential gift of this day of the week? Or maybe we do well in that regard but we have tasks we "have" to do. We all have them - the things we don't want to do (lawn mowing for me), the providences of God which we find abhorrent. Yet God has provided them for us as ways to show his glory and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Our vocation doesn't take a break. Our life as a member of society doesn't disappear just because we want it to. While some people try to jump ship and escape those situations, the rest of us trudge along and grumble. Granted, some of us manage to put on a cheerful face while we grumble, but we are grumbling nonetheless.
The fact is we don't understand God's mighty hand, his loving provision for us, his desire to use us in this world. If we understood that, wouldn't we face this life in a way which would be more pleasing to God? Probably not. Look at the Israelites. Day after day they saw God's provision of food for a mighty nation which would not have adequate food and water without divine intervention. They saw the bondage they had in Egypt. They have seen the fruit of thel and where God is taking them. They have seen God destroy a huge army that was pursuing them. Yet they do not wish to go on in obedience to God's call. They wish to turn back to their bondage in Egypt.
How often we also want to turn to the bondage of the life we have devised, a live of bondage. Let us rather trust God's provision for us. Let us look to him for life, hope, and forgiveness.
What of forgiveness? Does the atonement of Christ seem to make sense? No more than God's ability to provide food for a huge nation in a desert. But God has foreshadowed a sacrificial death for sin, both purposeful and accidental sin. While it doesn't make a lot of sense to us, we accept it by faith and in obedience we confess that Jesus has died for us, the Just for the unjust, so we may live. Let us rejoice, not grumble, in this wonderful providence of Christ.
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