–Louis L’Amour  (Passin’ Through)

       “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal.”

                    –Numbers 25:11 (NKJV)
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               “Generally speaking the soul and body fare inversely.  When the body is pampered with every luxury, the soul starves.”
                         –F.B. Meyer

That pretty much sums up this next portion of Psalm 106.  I have thought often of how Joshua and Caleb must have felt after all the spies reported to Moses.  I can imagine their excitement upon returning to Moses with their report, then hearing the reports of the others…how disappointed they must have been.  Joshua and Caleb knew what was before them, but they also knew that their God had led them to this place and that He was bigger than any in the land.

          24 — Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His word.
          25 — But complained in their tents, and did not heed the voice of the LORD.
          26 — Therefore He raised up His hand in an oath against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness.
          27 — To overthrow their descendants among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands.
          28 — They joined themselves also to Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices made to the dead.
          29 — Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds, and the plague broke out among them.
          30 — Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was stopped.
          31 — And that was accounted to him for righteousness to all generations forevermore.   (NKJV)

       Imagine, God has led you to the place He has promised you, but you hesitate, then you do not take the next step.  The opportunity was before you, the call is upon you, yet instead of marching forward you grumble and complain.  What an indictment!  Yet this is exactly what the people of Israel did.  They did not trust the Lord their God.  They would not heed His words.  They would rather listen to unbelieving spies rather than the word of God.
       Unbelief can bring the most horrendous consequences.  Resisting the word of the Lord is dangerous, not only in this life, but more so upon entering eternity.  Continual resistance and unbelief will eventually lead to seduction, flagrant immorality, and idolatry.  They worshipped Baal, ate forbidden food, and indulged in sexual morality with the Moabite women (Numbers 25:1-3)  How?  Why?  
       Up steps a man–Phinehas.  The grandson of Aaron and the son of Eleazar.  He was displeased with the immorality of the Israelites (Num 25:1-9).  He went into the tent of two of the most blatant offenders running a spear through the man and the belly of the woman.  In this he stopped the plague that was among the people and the desecration of God’s sanctuary.  Phinehas stood up in loyalty to the Lord.  He proved his courage, and because of his deed, both in thought and action, the Lord stayed the plague and Phinehas received divine recognition.
       Reading this portion, I wonder how often I have not heeded the voice of the Lord.  When new experiences come, that God has led us to, are we daring enough to believe God, the good report, or do we cower and hide in our tents in fear?  The men, the ten, felt like grasshoppers, but we need to realize that “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37, NKJV)

                    “To an inheritance divine
                    He taught our hearts to rise;
                    ‘Tis uncorrupted, undefiled,
                    Unfading in the skies.”
                            –Isaac Watts

                    –John Deacon  (Final Justice)

 

       “I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors:  you have given me wisdom and power…”

                    –Daniel 2:23 (NIV)

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I should be in a daily practice of thanking God, not just on a special occasion such as Thanksgiving.  It is imperative that we learn to be a thankful people.  Just a few reminders:

 

       “Enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”  –Psalm 100:4

               Normally we think of this verse upon going to church, but perhaps we should look at it from a different angle.  Since we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, when we wake each morning to face the new day, couldn’t that be similar to entering His gates?  Every morning start the day with thanksgiving.

 

       “Let us come before him with Thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.  For the Lord is the great God, the great king above all gods.”  –Psalm 95:2-3

               Thank the Lord simply for who He is.  If you can sing do that, but if you’re like me you might just want to hum.  He is great!   We may not be able to sing like Paul and Silas, but we can still offer praise and thanksgiving to Him from our heart.  “Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” –Ephesians 5:19-20

 

       “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good…”  –1 Chronicles 16:34

               He is good all the time, and all the time He is good.  You have heard that little ditty, but it’s true, not just words.  Add to this verse, Psalm 106:1, “Praise the Lord.  Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his love endures forever.”  

 

       “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind.”  –Psalm 107:15

               Take just that one aspect of God–love, unfailing love.  You can never go so deep into the mire that His love cannot reach and call out to you.  It is unfailing and it is enduring.

       “Do not be anxious about anything, but by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  –Philippians 4:6

               Be a thankful person in your life, throughout the day.  Be like the psalmist, “At midnight I rise to give thanks for your righteous laws.” –Psalm 119:62.  If you happen to waken during the night always check to see if God is speaking to you, if not, then begin to thank Him for all He has done.

 

These verses are from the NIV, but I would encourage you to take time to ponder them, to meditate upon them, to contemplate them.  Look at them from another translation, for example, the word “unfailing” in Psalm 107:15 is translated “steadfast” in the ESV.  Thank God for His unfailing, steadfast love!

 

This will be the last Echo for the week.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

                    –Zane Grey  (The Trail Driver)

       “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

                    –Psalm 50:15 (NKJV)
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          “It is hoped we shall never live to see a time when the miracles of our redemption shall be forgotten; when the return of Jesus Christ from heaven shall be despaired of; and when people shall fabricate a new philosophical deity for them to worship, instead of the God of their ancestors, to whom glory has been ascribed from generation to generation.”
                    –George Horne

How quickly we forget!  Oh, that we never forget what the Lord has done for us.  Let us always be thankful.  But, that is what this portion of Psalm 106 is about–people forgetting.  If people forget the Lord and what He has done for His people, then the next thing is to find a false god.  It may be an idol, money, fame, career, success, pleasure, or any number of things that we put in the place of the Lord.

          13 — They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel,
          14 — But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert.
          15 — And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.
          16 — When they envied Moses in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the LORD,
          17 — The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan, and covered the faction of Abiram.
          18 — A fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.
          19 — They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped the molded image.
          20 — Thus they changed their glory into the image of an ox that eats grass.
          21 — They forgot God their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,
          22 — Wondrous works in the land of Ham, awesome things by the Red Sea.
          23 — Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them.  (NKJV)

       If you find yourself with “leanness” of your soul, check who/what you are serving.  When we don’t seek the Lord, He will not easily be found.  Then there is that tendency to rely upon ourselves, our job, or to escape into pleasure and entertainment.  The people here became tired of the monotony of the same routine day in and day out.  They wanted more “tasty food.”  They desired more, hmm, similar to Adam and Eve.  They had everything but one thing, and what did they do?  They desired more.  God didn’t let this slide by for He gave them over to something that made them sick, a “wasting disease.”  
       The people grumbled and complained.  They became impatient.  So impatient that they decided to make their own god.  We think that God is slow to act sometimes, so what do we do?  We go to the god of self, or of money, or of credit, or of…  Where was their trust, ah, but hold on, then we must ask when we find ourselves doing the same thing–where is our trust?  And think of the foolishness–a golden calf, that is what brought them out of Egypt and displayed power through the plagues and the parting of the Sea.  It reminds me of a Psalm, “What is man that you are mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:4)  Yet God cares, He is mindful of man for man was made in His image.  Man, the fool, has been offered salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Redemption is possible.  Yet so many refuse, they are like Dathan and Abiram.
       We put aside our thoughts of God unless we direly need Him.  We forget His blessings, His miracles in our lives.  We forget that He promised that He will come again for those who are looking for His appearing.  Are we looking to a cow for our answer, or do we look heavenward from when our Savior will soon come?  I would encourage you this Thanksgiving to remember what God has done for you.  Count your blessings and be thankful for what you have.  A solemn note–they could be taken away.  Thank God Moses stood in the breach–thank God that Jesus came to stand in the breach.  

               “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;
               Prone to leave the God I love.
               Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
               Seal it for Thy courts above.”
                      –Robert Robinson

                      –Chris Bennett  (Insurrection)

       “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
                      –James 1:17 (NKJV)
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I want to look this morning at a different Thanksgiving story.  It involves three men, actually four.  Men who served with each other; men who were pledged to each other because of war.  These men were bonded together because of blood, no, not the blood of family, but the blood of each other.  Warriors, all four.  
       Growing up there was nothing better than Boulder water.  It came from the Arapaho Glacier and there was a bank in Boulder with a water fountain that used this cold, pure water.  I remember traveling and trying to drink water in other areas.  Too hard, full of all sorts of minerals, not the pure mountain water of melted snow.  David must have had a similar experience.

               “And David said with longing, ‘Oh, that someone would give me a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!’  So the three mighty men (Adino, Eleazar, and Shammah) broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David.  Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the LORD.  And he said, ‘Far be it from me, O LORD, that I should do this!  Is this not the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?’  Therefore he would not drink it.  These things were done by the three mighty men.”
                         –2 Samuel 23:15-17(NKJV)

       These men sacrificed their lives to bring David this special gift, one that he was longing for.  In our way of thinking David was foolish and silly by dumping the water on the ground.  What did the men think?  They dared to bring it to him and he does not even take a sip.   However, there is something deeper here.  What can be more significant than to give it as a sacrifice to the Lord?   David even considered this water as a blood sacrifice because of the risk it took to bring it to him.
       How does this relate to Thanksgiving?  Think about it.  The three warriors were so loyal and dedicated to David that they would risk their lives to bring him a special gift.  They were thankful, not only for his leadership and the future that was promised through David, but they were grateful for his friendship.  They knew he would risk his life for them so they risked theirs to bring him a gift.
       David was overwhelmed.  I remember well the times when we were blessed with Shauna and Kimberly.  It was a daunting responsibility.  God had given Annie and I two precious, special gifts of life and we were to raise them in accordance with His Word.  One of the first things we did was to give our daughters back to Him.  To some it may be but a symbolic ritual, something that is supposed to be done, but I trembled when we did it.  Not in fear, but in awe of what God had given us.  It was like David pouring the water out, giving it as an offering to God.
       Do you not think that David was thankful for these three men?  They had fought together, bled together, shared campfires together, now David was showing that he was thankful for their courage and loyalty as well as the risk of their lives.  What more could he do, for to drink it would almost be shameful.  For sure it would not have reached the pages of holy writ.  He poured the water out in thankfulness for his friends, for their lives, for their daring as an offering to the Lord.
       In this holiday season do not let the temporal and meaningless overcome the purposeful things.  Do not let pumpkin pie take the place of the time and effort of the person who lovingly made it.  Do not let a present, wrapped up so prettily take from the smile of the person watching you as you unwrap it.  Use this time, these special holidays, to be especially thankful and grateful to the Lord who is with you every minute of every day and yet we often overlook Him.  The blessings are wonderful, but the Giver is even more so.