Numbers 33

For the first 47 verses Numbers 33 all the writer tells us is all the places that the Israelites visited on their long journey. It is a looooong list. It reminded me of this song.



(WARNING... I get a little preachy from here to the bottom)

Then, at the end of the chapter God tells the Israelites to take the land that He has given them by driving out all the inhabitants and destroying all their idols. A common theme of the Old Testament is the Israelites and their worship of idols, or idolatry. (God commands them to have no other gods, then they build a golden calf... and Charlton Heston gets mad)

I think idolatry is alive and well today. We worship idols everyday. I remember watching Sportcenter a couple years ago when a new statue of Michael Jordan was unveiled and people were on their knees worshipping it.

Some idolatry is not so obvious. I think the idol we are most guilty of worshipping in is our self.

Desmond Tutu once said "It must be very hard to be a Christian in America because you have so much."

Americans aren't real needy. We take pride in providing for ourselves and our families. We pray "give us this day our daily bread" but we don't really trust that God will, because we can get our own bread.

We don't need God to provide our basic neccessities. We look to God for love, forgiveness, meaning and purpose, but we have the rest covered.

If we have it covered, why do so many have so little?

Because we have forgotten that it is all a gift from God. Every week I throw away groceries that we didn't eat... while others have nothing to eat.

We don't have it covered. We have abused God's blessings. We need God to show us how to be good stewards.

We need to tear down the altars we have built for ourselves.