#DailyDevotion Put Your Faith Into Action

Saturday

Read Num 32:1–6, 16–27

Num 32:5-6  And they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Do not take us across the Jordan.”  (6)  But Moses said to the people of Gad and to the people of Reuben, “Shall your brothers go to the war while you sit here?…20 So Moses said to them, “If you will do this, if you will take up arms to go before the LORD for the war,  (21)  and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before the LORD, until he has driven out his enemies from before him  (22)  and the land is subdued before the LORD; then after that you shall return and be free of obligation to the LORD and to Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the LORD.

Now the tribes of Gad and Reuben found the land they and the other  Israelites was good for their cattle and their purposes and they didn’t want to have their families cross the Jordan but wanted their families to have that land east of the Jordon for their inheritance. Moses wasn’t so sure it was a good idea. After all, why should they rest and their men be saved from the conflict that was to come in overtaking the land of Canaan. So they arraigned for those people to set up fortifications and cities for the non-combatants to dwell in securely while their men went with the rest of Israel to take the land.

Now if the fighting men were to cross the Jordan and fight for Israel until they had taken the land, who was going to protect the women and children of Gad and Reuben? Fortified cities certainly were not enough for a large force from one of their neighbors. Well they were going to have to trust the Lord of Armies to shelter and protect their families. The Lord had promised them and the rest of the peoples of Israel the land they were overcoming. As it turned out, by Joshua chapter twenty-two, Israel had taken all the land of Canaan enough that Joshua releases the three tribes from further enlistment in the armies of Israel. They had kept their promise and the Lord had kept his promise.

Now sometimes during the course of our lives we may come to a point where there may seem to be a conflict in what we want and God’s commands and promises. We may think if we follow God’s commands we will lose what we want. But the Lord Jesus also had made us promises. What should we do? We should trust the promises of God in Christ Jesus. He is no liar. Trusting in the promises of the Lord we should do what God commands. Whatever he has promised will come to pass if we act in trust towards him and do what he says. Let us have faith like the tribes of Gad and Reuben and we too will possess the New Heavens and New Earth as our eternal inheritance.

Heavenly Father, who fulfills all that he has ever promised, ever put all your promises before our eyes that faith in Jesus may all the more be encouraged and strengthened that we may accomplish all you have commanded us to do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.