{"id":4314,"date":"2022-10-16T03:08:30","date_gmt":"2022-10-16T08:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nazareneblogs.org\/pastorscott\/?p=4314"},"modified":"2022-10-16T03:08:30","modified_gmt":"2022-10-16T08:08:30","slug":"devotional-on-numbers-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-numbers-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-a74-BhO4FNc\/XU8Z690nMTI\/AAAAAAAA-RE\/IUCwrwehvSYu4zH5hi1AM41VHVPfT8w6ACKgBGAs\/s1600\/P6199545.JPG\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1200\" class=\"size-large\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">2014 &#8211; Mt Rainier National Park<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nGod\u2019s second best<br \/>\nNumbers 21: Israel moved in and lived in Amorite country.<br \/>\nFor some reason I\u2019ve always imagined the ancient Israelites just wandering around in the wilderness for forty years. Apparently, it wasn\u2019t quite like that. As they prepare to enter the territory ruled by King Sihon Moses sends representatives to negotiate safe passage through the territory. He promises that he and his people will only pass through and won\u2019t take anything that isn\u2019t theirs. However, Sihon sees them as easy prey and orders his army to attack them. Israel fights back and not only defends itself but takes possession of the territory ruled by Sihon. Later on they also defeat Og\u2019s forces and take his territory too. They haven\u2019t arrived in Canaan but now they have a base of operations. In spite of their massive failure to occupy Canaan the Lord has provided them with temporary housing. The other stories of battles and other conflicts all orbit around this territory which is east of the Dead Sea and of Canaan. For this generation, this is as good as it gets. They could have been taking the Promised Land, securing a future for their children but instead they\u2019re in a \u201cholding pattern\u201d just shy of their goal. On one hand, I\u2019m moved by the grace of God. In spite of their failure the Lord continues to care for them. On the other hand, it\u2019s disappointing that they came so close yet failed to take possession of Canaan. (Even to the point of fighting Og who is described in Deuteronomy as one of the giants of Canaan). As I see the Israelites busying themselves with moving into their temporary housing I can\u2019t help but wonder how often I\u2019ve accepted God\u2019s second best for me. There\u2019s a lot of grace in this passage, but things aren\u2019t what they might have been.<br \/>\nTake Away: God\u2019s people never need settle for second best when it comes to God\u2019s provision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>God\u2019s second best Numbers 21: Israel moved in and lived in Amorite country. For some reason I\u2019ve always imagined the ancient Israelites just wandering around in the wilderness for forty years. Apparently, it wasn\u2019t quite like that. As they prepare to enter the territory ruled by King Sihon Moses sends representatives to negotiate safe passage [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1522,7],"tags":[145,413],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4314"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4314"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13976,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4314\/revisions\/13976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}