"The Provocation"

"When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work." (Psalms 95:9)
Obviously it's more than just that; much like that wicked servant who had his fellow servant thrown into jail over a petty little debt, our own sins and rebellions keep us doubting God's protection. A whole generation was lost, not for their sin of doing wrong, but for the lack of trust that they had in the LORD doing for them. After all they had seen, after all that they had witnessed, you would think they might have had a more firm grip on God's ability to fight for them. Do you wonder where "Praise and Worship" come into this? Well, it's pretty clear that God's reputation has something to do with it; the enemies of God feared Him more than His people did. Can that possibly take place in our heart as well? What makes us think God does not care what we do when we sin? And if we do think He cares, why do we still do it? There is a strife or contention going on within us. This is the kind of matter that Paul speaks of in Romans 7:14-25; where we don't do what we should, and we continue to do what we should not; contention between the flesh and the Spirit. My favorite defense over this type of strife is to stop feeding the flesh and to focus on the Spirit; if that does not work, there is always that 1989 pledge I made to myself, "I know that I have enough faith to be saved!" It was actually much more than that, but that pretty much sums it up; to believe that God has truly forgiven me of my sins! If you are looking for the reason for "Praise and Worship," then there it is; over and over, without any sort of right on my behalf; not because I deserve it or have earned it, God continues to forgive me! Because that is who He is, my God and Savior! We get so caught up in our own failures, we cannot see God's perfect protection over what really matters, our soul. So those people perished in the wilderness, but they perished believing what could have been; they perished believing that God was able to protect them and deliver them. How do I know this? Because they taught it to their children! If there is strife going on within our hearts, then it is best to take the side that has the power to win...
"We are human, but we don't wage war as humans do. We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy the false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. And after you have become fully obedient, we will punish everyone who remains disobedient." (2 Corinthians 10:3-6) NLT