Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
God worked HIS miracles and delivered the children of Israel, 600,000 men plus women and children, out of Egypt, out of bondage.
They rejoiced in the deliverance ... but immediately they began complaining.
Exodus 16:1-3 And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.
And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:
And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
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Numbers 11:1 And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and HIS anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.
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I Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
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Instead of turning to God, they complained ... and they looked back desiring to return to Egypt, the life from which God had delivered them.
God had provided food for them but they wanted other foods.
Numbers 11:4-6 And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.
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Numbers 11:10 Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly; Moses also was displeased.
Moses said to God: Numbers 11:13 Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.
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God said to Moses: Numbers 11:18-20 Say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; But even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the Lord which is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?
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There were more than 600,000 men ... plus women and children.
How would this be possible, Moses wondered.
Numbers 11:21-23 And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and THOU hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord's hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether MY word shall come to pass unto thee or not.
Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them?
And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord's hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether MY word shall come to pass unto thee or not.
(They can even make us sin with their unbelief and with their lusts. Be careful. Pray when they do this and when you see it. Ask God to help you that you not be consumed by them.)
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To us it looks impossible. To God it is simple.
And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.
33 And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague.
34 ... there they buried the people that lusted.
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This account is also recorded for us in Psalm 78.
I will open MY mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and HIS strength, and HIS wonderful works that HE hath done. 5 For HE established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which HE commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:
That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: 7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep HIS commandments:
And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.
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9-33 The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
(They were trained and even were armed ... but instead of going forth in the fear of God, they turned back.)
They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in HIS law; And forgat HIS works, and HIS wonders that HE had shewed them.
Marvellous things did HE in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
HE divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and HE made the waters to stand as an heap. In the daytime also HE led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. HE clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths. HE brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
And they sinned yet more against HIM by provoking the most High in the wilderness.
Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
Behold, HE smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can HE give bread also? can HE provide flesh for HIS people?
Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel; Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in HIS salvation:
Though HE had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.
Man did eat angels' food: HE sent them meat to the full.
HE caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by HIS power HE brought in the south wind.
So they did eat, and were well filled: for HE gave them their own desire; They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths, The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.
For all this they sinned still, and believed not for HIS wondrous works.
Therefore their days did HE consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.
40-42 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.
They remembered not HIS hand, nor the day when HE delivered them from the enemy.
51-58 And (HE) smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:
But made HIS own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
And HE led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
HE cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not HIS testimonies: But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
For they provoked HIM to anger with their high places, and moved HIM to jealousy with their graven images.
I Timothy 6:5-12 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
(If you are around a person who thinks gain is godliness, withdraw yourself from that person for he will corrupt you.)
(They were trained and even were armed ... but instead of going forth in the fear of God, they turned back.)
They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in HIS law; And forgat HIS works, and HIS wonders that HE had shewed them.
Marvellous things did HE in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
HE divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and HE made the waters to stand as an heap. In the daytime also HE led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. HE clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths. HE brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
And they sinned yet more against HIM by provoking the most High in the wilderness.
And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
Behold, HE smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can HE give bread also? can HE provide flesh for HIS people?
Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel; Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in HIS salvation:
Though HE had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.
Man did eat angels' food: HE sent them meat to the full.
HE caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by HIS power HE brought in the south wind.
HE rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea: And HE let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations.
So they did eat, and were well filled: for HE gave them their own desire; They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths, The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.
For all this they sinned still, and believed not for HIS wondrous works.
Therefore their days did HE consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.
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40-42 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.
They remembered not HIS hand, nor the day when HE delivered them from the enemy.
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51-58 And (HE) smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:
But made HIS own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
And HE led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
And HE brought them to the border of HIS sanctuary, even to this mountain, which HIS right hand had purchased.
HE cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
56 Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not HIS testimonies: But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
For they provoked HIM to anger with their high places, and moved HIM to jealousy with their graven images.
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There are so many lessons in these scriptures.
* Learn to trust in God to provide for us.
My cousin told me this story. She said she does well during the day but in the evenings she becomes "down." (Her husband died about 10 years ago.)
I told her when evening comes and she begins to feel down, turn to God and ask HIM to provide for her as Paul told us to do in Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Though she had attended church from early childhood and professed to be a Christian, she was not doing the basic scriptures.
But even after I told her this, she would not do this.
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God makes a way of escape for us that we can be able to bear it ... By faith in God, we must take that way of God.
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* The scriptures warn us not to look back, longing for a previous life.
Philippians 3:13-15 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded:
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded:
Regardless of our circumstances, we overcome through God, by turning to God in prayer and by focusing on that which God calls to our attention.
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* Be thankful to God constantly for HIS provision.
(If you are around a person who thinks gain is godliness, withdraw yourself from that person for he will corrupt you.)
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
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17-19 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;
That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
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