Passage Through Edom Refused

I think they're fine. Well, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions is where every weekday morning. You and I, we get together, we have a little bit of nothing. Nathan doesn't like coffee. We get into God's word and we grow in our love for Lord together. And this year, 2024, Lord willing, we'll make it through the books of Numbers, Deuteronomy and Hebrews. Numbers, Deuteronomy and Hebrews. That's right. Let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's word. I'll try a bit. Oh, you're going to try some coffee. Nope, still tastes like coffee. OK. OK, well, let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word. And we pray, Father, that you would please give us your spirit. Please let us understand what these words meant to the people that they were given to at that time. Lord, we pray that by your spirit you would instruct us to know how to responsibly apply them to our lives today. In Jesus's name. Amen.
OK, so we are at Numbers chapter 20, beginning at verse 14. There's one long paragraph, Numbers chapter 20, beginning at verse 14. There's one long paragraph and then a series of short ones after that. So do you want to read the long paragraph or do you want to read the three short ones? So 14 through 17 is one paragraph, then 18 through 21. is a bunch of smaller paragraphs. Do you want to read the small ones or do you want to read the big one? I'll do 14 through 18. 14 through 17?
18. Oh, you want to do 18. Okay, go ahead. Okay.
Now Moses Now Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the kingdom of Edom. Thus says your brother Israel, you know all the hardship that has befallen us. Our fathers went down to Egypt and we dwelt in Egypt for a long time. The Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers. When we cried out to the Lord, he heard our voice and sent the angel and brought us up out of egypt now we are in kadesh a city of on the edge of our border of your border please let us pass through your country we will not pass through your fields or vineyards nor will we drink water from the wells we will go along the king's highway we will not turn aside to the Right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.
Then Edom said to him, you shall not pass through my land lest I come out against you with the sword. So the children of Israel said to him, we will go by the highway, and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, then I will pay for it. Let me only pass through on foot, nothing more. Then he said, you shall not pass through.
So Edom came out against them with many men and with a strong hand. Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory. So Israel turned away from him. All right, so what's this talking about? So the Israelites are wandering around the desert. They come up to the edge of whose territory? Edom's. Edom's territory, right? So Edom is a distant relative from the ancient past, right? And so they come and they say, hey, what do they want to do? They just want to go to his land to the other side of Israel.
And what do they promise? Nothing. They won't touch nothing. They won't touch nothing, right? So they're going to touch everything? No. They're going to touch the road. That's all they're going to do. Yeah, so they're not going to go into their vineyards. They're not going to forage in their fields. They're not going to drink all the water out of their wells, right? And anything they may happen to mess up or do, what do they promise?
They're going to pay for it. They're going to pay for it. You want some water? I'm going to have to pay for it. And so what does the king of Edom say? Nope. And they say, no, no, no, we're still going to do it. And he says, over my dead body. Right? No, he goes out and he meets him. The King of Edom meets him with a whole bunch of army. Right? All right. So go ahead and summarize this. A, what is this about? Uh, the Israelites are not allowed to pass through the land? Yeah, the Israelites aren't allowed to pass through Edom. Good.
Uh, what do you think is the best verse to summarize this? B, what is the best verse to summarize this? Um, I think 19 and 20. 19 and 20. Oh, okay. Just kind of gets at the heart, like what the main part of the story was. I asked, he said, no. Yeah. That's basically. Okay. Yeah. I would have underlined 17. Surprisingly for some reason, I don't have anything underlined in this section, but I would probably underline 17, but I like 18, 19 too. That's good. All right. Well, let's, let's do the hard part. See calling. How does it apply to our lives? What are we called to do? Uh... Stay in your sissy's room. Stay out of your sister's room.
That might be a very practical application, bud. Yeah, maybe, right, respecting the property rights of others, right, maybe. I think it's also showing that, right, like, no, the Lord was going to make them wander and suffer in the wilderness because of their sin, right? And so I think for me, I would take it as, right, sometimes there's hard things in this life, and I don't get to do some of the things I want to do, Nice sneezes. Or I mean, I get to enjoy the things I want to enjoy. Things may be harder for me because of choices I've made.
And the Lord may be disciplining me or teaching me, but guess who's responsible for that? Me. When I mess up my relationship with you because I've sinned against you, Who has to live with it? Me, right? There are decisions that we make in our lives, right?
God didn't tell them, don't go up to the land of milk and honey. No, they're the ones who wanted to do it themselves, right? Even after he said, no, you're not going to do it because you rebelled against me, right? They rebelled, they rebelled, they rebelled. And then they want good things. They want people to be nice to them. But guess what?
No, the Lord said they were going to wander for 40 years. So you kind of reap what you sow, huh? So if you saw a whole bunch of bickering and complaining and grumbling and being mad and not being known as like a good people, people wouldn't treat you good? So that's one of the applications I would put here, right?
But. Thank God. Even though he has, he's dealing with the people this way, has he forsaken them? Nope. He hasn't forgotten his promise? Nope. But he's not letting them go through Edom's land. Who stirred up the king of Edom's heart to not let them go into the land? Themselves. Well, themselves, by their actions, but maybe also the Lord, right? In response to their actions.
But has God utterly forsaken them? Nope. No. No, right? And so they have to live with that. But that doesn't mean God's forsaken them. Nope. So even though there may be hard things in our lives that we deserve, does it mean that God's forsaken us? A lot of yes or no questions I think. No yes, no yes. Is that easy to accept? Nope.
Can you remember a time in your life where there's been a situation where maybe the Lord has chastised you or had to tell you no you're not allowed to do something or made a situation difficult for you and you realize I did this for myself? Can you remember something like that? Yeah. Yeah. You want to give an example? No, no, you're not going to tattle on yourself. Yeah. Right. Sometimes I feel that way about, again, my relationships with people. Right. And so I need to remember sometimes I may not be able to do the things I want to do. I mean, I have the relationships I want to have, but.
Does that mean God's forsaken? No, no, there's natural consequences still, though, aren't there? This is kind of dragging on, aren't I? You see that horse? It's dead. I'm still beating it. You ready to be done? Yeah, OK. Yes, no, yes, no. God, thank you so much. For this day.
We pray that when we've made bonehead decisions. Or we've made the path before us difficult. Or we pray that we would not give up hope knowing that you do chastise those whom you love, you discipline us. Lord, sometimes things are difficult, and that doesn't mean that you don't love us. It means that you do love us. But we have to deal with the consequences of our actions and of our words.
Lord, we pray that we would look to Jesus, knowing that there is still hope, even when things are difficult. In Jesus's name we pray. Amen. May the Lord bless you. May you, even in the difficulties of this life, know that your God still loves you as long as you have faith in him. See you next time. Bye. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.