Bargaining For Gilead

March 14
Daily Reading – Numbers 32-33 / Mark 14:17-42

GOD SAID:

Numbers 32:5 Wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan.

GETTING INTO GOD’S WORD:

    When was the last time you thought you had found a bargain, and it turned out to be a burden? Some of you may have looked at a car and seen all the pretty shinny exterior, looked inside at the fancy radio and seats and thought, I have to have this car. Only to find out later, all the glamour of the outside, did not make up for the tons of cash you had to pour into the mechanics just to keep the thing running. The old phrase, “All that Glitters is not Gold” comes to mind about then.

     The families of Reuben and Gad had seen the land just outside of the land God had promised the Children of Israel. It was the land of Gilead and was fertile ground and was good for their cattle. So they devised a plan to make this their inheritance and not go over into the promised land to live. They began bargaining for this land by saying they would help the other families fight for the promised land, but they would come back to Gilead to live after the land was secured. And so they did. Just outside of the will of God. However, in the long run, this turned out to be a horrible choice. You see, the people who stayed there, known latter as the Gadarenes, stayed away from God’s will. They became infatuated with the worldly goods. So much so that when Jesus was in their land it says in Luke 8:37 “Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear:…”

GETTING GOD’S WORD INTO ME:

    Sadly today many live as the Gadarenes. They go to church occasionally, but live just outside the will of God. Half in the world, half for Christ. In Matthew 6:24 it says; “No man can serve two masters:…” Trying to do so is bargaining for trouble.

Who is it that you choose to serve?

 

     
Living In His Word Ministries
    “Getting people into the Word of God…
                               … and the Word of God into people.”

Dr. Franklin J. Senters Th.D.
Founder and Executive Director
Hebrews 2:12