Open Heaven 15 February
MEMORISE: “Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” – (Matthew 4:7)
READ: Numbers 14:22-30 (KJV)
22. Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
23. Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it;
24. But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
25. (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
26. And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
27. How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
28. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you;
29. Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,
30. Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
Read yesterday’s Open Heaven here
Many years ago, I visited a zoo in Ibadan, Nigeria, and I was told the story of a certain prophet who jumped into the lion’s cage to prove that he had the same power as Daniel. The lion ate him up in spite of the huge cross he carried with him. One major difference between that man and Daniel is that the latter did not jump into the lions’ den to tempt God; he was thrown into it for praying to God. God however, didn’t only save Daniel; He also prospered him and wiped out his accusers (Daniel 6:1-26).
Mark 16:18 says:
They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Does this mean that you should deliberately drink poison? No. What God is saying in the passage above is that if someone tries to poison you, the poison will not harm you.
It is foolishness to tempt God. This is the trap the devil set before Jesus Christ in Matthew 4:5-7 when he told Him to jump off the pinnacle of the temple, reminding Him that the Bible says God’s angels will not allow His foot to be dashed against a stone. Jesus escaped this trap by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16:
Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God…
Tempting God provokes His wrath and also limits what He wants to do in the life of His children.
How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!
Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. – (Psalm 78:40-41)
As we see in our Bible reading today, the children of Israel tempted God in the wilderness with their unbelief, murmuring and idolatry. This limited God’s plans for their lives and prevented them from entering the Promised Land with the exception of Caleb and Joshua who had faith in Him. It is indeed foolishness to tempt God.
Are you tempting God?
KEY POINT: Lord, please forgive me for every time I have tempted You and help me never to it again.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Leviticus 24-25
Thank you for studying today’s Open Heaven – Don’t Be Foolish – written by Pastor Enoch A.
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Open Heaven 15 February 2021
