To Believe, Believe, Is Our Livelihood

From: July 10 – 16, 2012

TOPIC: “To Believe, Believe, Is Our Livelihood” Psalm 78:18, 19 We are capable of being insolent and to ask as we please discarding what God has wanted to give to us, we do it without considering God’s purity and good will towards us. So, we ask for anything, considering it good for us. We ask and ask. But, it is not in our mouth to give thanks to God at all times for what He has given us. It seems that there is dissatisfaction in us for everything. We can see this when men criticize their own children, their wife, their parents, they criticize and have regret for the house in which they live, the job they have, etc. Furthermore, we can go to the extreme to mock what God has given us. When that happens, it is because there is a spirit of arrogance that drives a person to the extreme of criticizing what God has given him. They reject what comes from God because they want or prefer other things, things that according to them would be more attractive to human demands. But, no one can give us the best but God. We place God in temptation in the situations in which we live in our lives. I am not talking about illnesses or great difficulties, because God takes pity of us and does not allow us to go thru great devastations without His intervention, because He favors you and me. But rather I’m speaking of other situations that show the nonconformity and the arrogance of the human being. Psalm 78:18 says, "They willfully put God to the test ..." God was not tempted because no one can tempt Him. They acted on purpose to tempt Him. God places us in a specific place and in a specific situation to allow us to see what is inside of us. Life is full of dangers and our behavior provokes more dangers. What is inside of us has to be seen and God wants us to know it so that we can be delivered from the evil that is in our heart. Depending on how we act is what shows what’s inside of us. We cannot excuse or explain what we have done wrong but rather accept the fault and mend our acts, our conduct. It is the best way to improve, to grow and to head in the right direction to please God. The people of Israel demanded from God at that hour and in that place what God knew was not convenient for them. They were asking as they pleased. What they were asking for was a disorder. The manna that God was providing them was healthy, pleasant and abundant. But that did not satisfy them. How can one believe that he/she knows more than God, then we ask as we please and not according to what God wants to give us. Those men spoke against God saying: Can God spread a table in the desert? What audacity! What boldness! They exploded and what was inside them came out. This nation thought badly of God, they thought that after the Lord had taken them out of Egypt, he would allow them to lack the necessary to feed them and therefore they would not arrive at Canaan alive. It was not a sin that they would be hungry or thirsty because we know that these are natural needs, but, we do sin when we doubt God thinking that if we follow His direction we would lack what is necessary. The faith is tested in such situations and in that moment it is dangerous to gossip. It is necessary to suffer for some time so that we can be corroborated and see how satisfied we are with what’s given by God. They doubted the power of God, of the divine omnipotence. They thought badly of God, as if they were going to be considered by the Lord like nothing, as if God was going to refuse to satisfy their carnal desires. Incredulity is so ingrained in the human heart that when the Lord executes miracles on earth, incredulity emerges. They wanted a table in the desert! Who can say they live grateful of a friend for a kind deed done in the past if in the future

he holds an unfavorable opinion of him? This is what the ungrateful nation of Israel returned to God for the miraculous fact of provoking the sprout of water from the rock to wane their thirst (Psalm 78: 15, 16). "When he struck the rock, water gushed out and streams flowed abundantly. But can He also give us food? Can He supply meat for his people? When the LORD heard them, He was very angry; His fire broke out against Jacob, and His wrath rose against Israel, for they did not believe in God or trust in His deliverance (Psalms 78: 20-22). The most grateful person is one who treasures God’s mercy in his mind and is able to nurture his faith with what God has done for him, so that he can corroborate this in his present worries. But, the men of Israel did not believe God. It is because what is wanted is not what comes from God, but from ourselves. To not believe, by men who say they follow God, is what closes the doors of Heaven to millions that do not know God. Lack of faith is to not believe in the power of God. God has in Heaven so much to give us. There is so much up there that in that occasion the heavens poured food and the clouds bursted to favor God’s people. It was sufficient for the people to gather the manna right there. The manna from God was suitable to nourish that numerous crowd. What was it, pride? Let us have faith and believe God always living in gratitude for what He does for us each day. May God banish with His treatment the wicked incredulity in us! "We are nourished by you, Oh God, and receive assurance from you." Amen.