"Their Provocation"

Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word: but murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD." (Psalms 106:24-25)

 Besides His great love for us, He cares deeply about our spiritual condition; so much so, He will most likely do whatever it takes to assure our eternity with Him is not lost. That might seem like it could be a pretty scary thing, but like I said before, Israel's examples of ups and downs are a reflection of us; we are all His children, so He will do whatever it takes to keep us safe and secure. People just don't realize the importance of eternity; this life does not compare to eternity, it is just a blink, a nanosecond in comparison to eternal life. Provocation is also a noun, believe it or not; even though it is action or doing, it has intent, (no pun intended). In a nutshell, it is testing God for a reaction, or to provoke God to respond, either good or bad; it's something that is really not thought threw very well, obviously; if it were, then they would not have tested Him for a response. This is hardly comparable to you and I; these people witnessed mighty and wonderful works of God. They saw the sea open and the ground dry up; they walked across on dry land! They saw the enemy get swallowed up in that same sea, and just like that, they were no longer being hunted down by the Egyptians. When was the last time you experience something like that? So, you can imagine why God's anger was stirred up, not just because they murmured against Him, but because that they dared to murmur in the first place. I witnessed a hawk fly down upon it's prey yesterday; it was really eye opening to see how the hawk becomes a vicious creature as it attacks the prey. There really is no need for it to do so, it already has such a powerful advantage. It almost is as if it does so just to be vicious, as if it something that helps it to conquer any and all other feelings it might hold for the creature it is taking life from. Anywho, I just think it is a good idea to learn from the children of Israel's mistakes, instead of trying to learn on our own. I hope you agree...

"That is why the Holy Spirit says, "Today when you here his voice, don't harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested me in the wilderness. There you ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw miracles for forty years. So I was angry with them, and I said, 'Their hearts always turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.' So in my anger I took an oath: 'They will never enter my place of rest.'" (Hebrews 3:7-11) NLT