Thorn

TODAY’S SPECIAL: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

TO CHEW ON: "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me." 2 Corinthians 12:9


Do you or someone you know have any of the following:

- crooked teeth    
- epilepsy          
- poor hearing
- diabetes
- poor eyesight

These are what Paul might have called a “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7). You know that a thorn poking into you won’t kill you. But it hurts just the same. When there's a thorn in your shoe and you're trying to walk it's annoying, always there, and not easy to ignore.


What’s your thorn? Perhaps it’s something you were born with like an oddly shaped nose or ears that stick out. Maybe it has come as a result of treatments for a disease like cancer. Maybe for as long as you can remember, you’ve had diabetes or epilepsy. You can live with your problem, but it interferes with what you’d like to do and makes you feel like an oddball.

What do you do about thorns? You may be tempted to feel sorry for yourself, whine and complain. Or you may avoid others and hide your problem so you won’t get teased and made fun of.

Paul did two things about his thorn. First he 1.______________________ (2 Corinthians 12:8). He knew that God had the power to take his thorn away.

"For this thing I besought the Lord," by Charles J. Staniland

When God answered ‘no,’ Paul determined to 2._______________________ (2 Corinthians 12:9,10) . He did this because he knew when he succeeded in spite of his problem, God would get the credit.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I bring my thorn to You. I pray You will take it away, or show Your power through me if Your answer is ‘no’. Amen.


MORE: Living With Thorns
1. If you or someone you know has a serious illness or condition (like cancer or epilepsy or diabetes), find out all you can about it.

2. If it’s your friend who is in this situation, put yourself in their place. What are some things you could do for them to make their thorn easier to live with.

ANSWERS

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

What's wrong with grumbling anyway?

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Numbers 21:4-9

TO CHEW ON: "But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, 'Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!' ” Numbers 21:4,5

Have you ever grumbled about any of these things: food, clothes, the weather, too much to do, not enough to do, the things you have, the things you don’t have?

I have to admit, I have – and I’d be surprised if you haven’t as well.

Grumbling and complaining are pretty common ways people react to things they don’t like. And that’s what the Israelites did as they continued their travels. They complained about God, Moses, the food, no water. Instead of trusting in what God had said about their future, they doubted and wailed, “We’re going to die in this desert.”

So God sent poisonous snakes among them. These snakes bit them and many of the people died – just for complaining! The only way they could be saved after they had been bitten was to look at the bronze snake Moses had mounted on a pole in the middle of the camp.

"Plague of fiery serpents" from Treasures of the Bible

Wasn’t death an awfully harsh punishment for something as simple and common as grumbling? But the Israelites’ grumbling showed they had a bigger problem than simply being ungrateful for their leader and not liking what they had to eat and drink. It showed they weren’t trusting God’s character. They didn’t believe that He was in everything that happened to them. They didn’t trust that He really loved them and would work everything that happened to them into something good. They didn’t believe His promises.

Isn’t our grumbling the same? Even though God has given us some amazing promises in the Bible, when we grumble we are saying, “I don’t believe God is good. I don’t believe He will keep His promises to me.”

Let’s change our ways. When we are tempted to grumble, let’s remember God’s promises and choose to trust Him and believe that He will make something good out of even hungry, thirsty, anxious, boring or uncomfortable times.

PRAYER: Dear God, next time I feel like grumbling, help me remember promises of Your goodness. Amen.

MORE: Grumbling Antidote
An antidote is a medicine that cancels out the effect of poison. People who get bitten by snakes need to take an antidote called anti-venom.


The antidote to grumbling is God’s Word. Three verses which give us promises of God’s love and good plans for us are: Jeremiah 29:11, Jeremiah 31:3 and Hebrews 13:5.

Look them up on the internet or in your Bible. Then write out your favorite on a card or piece of paper. You might want to memorize it. Next time you are tempted to grumble, you can remind yourself about it. It can be your grumbling antidote.

Adult readers - DAILY DEVOTIONS FOR ADULTS  are available too at Other Food: daily devo's. 

More Mutiny

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Numbers 16:1-7

TO CHEW ON: "Then he (Moses) said to Korah and all his followers: 'In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him and who is holy and he will have that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him.'” Numbers 16:5

The Israelites had refused to trust God to help them enter Canaan. Now they were doomed to live as nomads for 40 more years. They weren’t happy and it didn’t take long before rebellion broke out again.

This time Korah, one of the Levites (the tribe which took care of the holy things in the tabernacle) was the ringleader. One day he came with friends and 250 leaders to confront Moses. “Who said you should be the boss over us? We’re just as good as you are and God chose us too.”

“Let’s have a test,” Moses replied. “Tomorrow God will show whom He has chosen to be the leader.”

The next day Moses and Aaron came with their censers and stood outside the Tabernacle. Korah and his friends and fellow leaders came too. All the rebellious leaders stood with him, their censers full of burning incense.

Then Moses explained to them how everyone would know if Korah should be the leader or not. “If Korah lives and dies a natural death like any other person, then God hasn’t sent me to lead you,” he said. “But if the earth splits apart and swallows him, then you’ll know he is wrong.”

No sooner had he finished talking than the earth opened up right under Korah. It swallowed him, his family and all their possessions. Then fire from God came down and burned every one of the leaders who had opposed Moses. That day God showed that Moses was the leader He had chosen.


Our spiritual leaders are pastors, ministers, elders, deacons and teachers. Do we treat them with respect as people picked by God to lead us? Or do we have a Korah attitude toward them? We need to remember that if our leaders have been put over us by God, when we rebel against them we’re really rebelling against God ... not a safe thing to do.

PRAYER: Dear God, teach me how to respect and obey godly leaders. Amen


MORE: Government 101
There are different types of government. Government by one person, as the Israelites were led by Moses, is called autocracy.

But Moses got his direction from God, so their government should really be called theocracy.

When a country is governed by a king or queen, it is ruled by monarchy.

In our times countries where every adult can vote for leaders are a democracy.

- Can you name more kinds of government?

- What do you think - does God have control over who leads a church or who governs a country in an autocracy, a monarchy, a democracy? (Check out Psalm 75:6,7 and Daniel 2:21)

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.


Adult readers - DAILY DEVOTIONS FOR ADULTS  are available too at Other Food: daily devo's. 

Banned

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Numbers 14:1-12, 20-23

TO CHEW ON: "Not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it." Numbers 14:23

When the twelve spies came back from Canaan, only two thought they could conquer the people and move in. The ten others saw only walled cities and fierce, tall people. They were afraid and refused to trust God and Moses.

When the people in the camp heard their report, they started to grumble and cried, “We don’t want to die in a war. We want to go back to Egypt. We want a new leader.”

Joshua and Caleb tried to change the peoples’ minds. “The land is wonderful,” they said. “God isn’t afraid of those people. If He is with us, those people should be afraid.”

But the people wouldn’t change their minds. Instead they ganged up on Moses, Aaron, Caleb and Joshua. “Let’s kill them!” they shouted, and began picking up stones.

Then God’s glory came to the tabernacle and God said to Moses, “I'm going to destroy these people!”

“Please don’t kill them,” Moses begged. “Forgive them instead.”

God answered Moses’s prayer. He did forgive the people that day. But there were consequences. What were they? Pick the right answer (Numbers 14:20-23).

1. Manna stopped appearing each morning
2. None of the rebellious people would see or go into the land God had promised them.
3. An earthquake split the ground and swallowed up every rebellious person.

Rebellion against God is still wrong and still dangerous. Like the Israelites, if we don’t change rebellious ways, there will be consequences to us too.

PRAYER: Dear God, please teach me the danger of being stubborn and rebellious toward You. Amen.

MORE: Choices and Consequences
God is patient with us. He will forgive us for wrong things we’ve done if we ask Him.

Even then we will sometimes have to suffer consequences for bad choices we’ve made. Match the choice a person could make (left) with a possible consequence (right).


Answers

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.


Adult readers - DAILY DEVOTIONS FOR ADULTS  are available too at Other Food: daily devo's. 

No-Whine Zone

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Numbers 11:4-6, 31-34

TO CHEW ON: "But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague." Numbers 11:33

The Israelites camped at Mount Sinai for a long time. Then one day the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle. Quickly the people packed up their tents and belongings while the Priests and Levites took down the tent church. It was time to move on.

The cloud led them from place to place. Though their feet got tired from walking, they were never hungry for long. Each morning they awoke to a new supply of manna on the ground.

Israelites gathering manna - A. F. Pearse

The manna kept them from getting hungry but after a while they got bored. “We’re so tired of this manna,” they whined. “We want the food we had in Egypt – the fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks onions and garlic.” As the wailing spread through the whole camp, Moses prayed for God’s help.

God was angry with the Israelites for their grumbling. Even so, He sent a great wind. It brought quail from the sea. Quickly news spread around the camp: “Birds have landed all around.” The people went out and caught the quail – dozens and dozens. At last they would have their feast of meat!

Israelites capture quail to eat - Artist unknown

But God wasn’t through with them. As the people were stuffing themselves with quail, they become ill. Many died that day. And God taught them that sometimes the things we want most are not the things that are good for us.

Do you ever grumble and complain about things like your clothes, the stuff you want but can’t afford, the food your Mom makes? Learn from the Israelites. Instead, choose to be thankful for all the good things you have.

PRAYER: Dear God, I’m sorry for whining, complaining and grumbling. Help me to be thankful. Amen.

MORE: Blessing surprise.
An old song goes: “Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”

Give yourself a blessing surprise by making a list of things for which you’re thankful. Can you think of 20?

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.


Adult readers - DAILY DEVOTIONS FOR ADULTS  are available too at Other Food: daily devo's. 

grumble Grumble GRUMBLE

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Exodus 16:1-12

TO CHEW ON: "The Lord said to Moses, 'I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’ ” - Exodus 16:11-12

Yesterday the Israelites grumbled about no water. Today they are grumbling about not enough food. In fact, they are in such a bad mood, they’re ready to go back to Egypt for just one of those great Egyptian meals!

God heard the people. He told Moses what He would do (Exodus 16:11,12): unscramble the words.
1. In the evening God would send (tmea) __________.
2. In the morning He would rain down (debar) __________.

Gathering manna by James Tissot

The bread God sent the Israelites every morning was called manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey (Exodus 16:31).

Coriander seed

Think about it:
3. What does it mean to grumble?

4. What do you think - did the Israelites grumble too much?
In what other ways could they have told Moses and God what they needed and wanted?

5. How do you get your food?
Is God involved in any way?

Of course you would never grumble about food, would you?

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for supplying my food. Amen.

MORE: A Food Prayer
A prayer of blessing and thanks for the food before or after we eat reminds us that it’s really God whom we should thank for our food.

1. A before- or after-meal prayer for food is called: __________ a] repentance; b] confession; c] grace; d] whining.

2. Write out your favorite food prayer – or make up a new one.

3. Learn some new table graces (mealtime prayers) at this web site.

Answers

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

I need a drink

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Exodus 15:22-27

TO CHEW ON: " He said, 'If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.' ” Exodus 15:26

Think of a time you were very thirsty. What did it feel like? What did you want more than anything?

After the Egyptian army drowned in the Red Sea, Moses led the people into the desert. A desert is a dry place. It is often hot. As the people walked through the desert, they took sips from their water bottles. But soon all their water was gone. And they
found no water for three days!



Walking anywhere for three days with little or no water is bad. But walking through the hot dry desert without water is scary. It’s no wonder when they got to a place with water, they went straight to it. A drink at last!

But no. The water tasted bitter. It probably isn’t even safe.

1.What did the people do after they taste the bitter water? (Exodus 15:24)
What do you think you would have done if you’d been there? Why?

2. What did Moses do? (Exodus 15:25)

3. What instructions did God give Moses to make the water drinkable? (Exodus 15:25)

Again God showed the Israelites that He could take care of them. Not only did He supply water, but He promised if they would obey Him, He would keep them from getting sick and would heal them.

Think of something you need. Just like God gave the Israelites what they needed – water and health – He can also supply the things you need. Talk to God instead of grumbling about it.

PRAYER: Dear God, one thing I need is _______. Help me to trust You for this. Amen


MORE: Water – Sweet!
Water is one of the most important substances on earth. Make a list all the ways you use water in a day.

Answers

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.