The Kingdom Promised: His Rules, Part Four

Week seventeen | April 28 – May 4

The Israelites have become a great nation with laws on how to live under God’s rule and blessing, they just need a land to live in. Before they can go into the land, God gives them detailed instructions for the tabernacle of the Lord and how to offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. The Levites were put in charge of the tabernacle and everything relating to it. As they make their way through the wilderness toward the promised land, the people’s sinful hearts get the best of them and they grumble a lot! They grumble about food, they grumble about water, they grumble about Moses and Aaron. They act as if God has never done anything for them. The truth is, God has done everything for them! He delivered them out of slavery, he provides for their needs daily, he has shown them his love through giving his laws, and he dwells amongst them. Israel just doesn’t see it. Because of their grumbling and doubting that God could actually do what he said he would do and give them the land of Canaan, he punishes the people. God tells them that none of the original Israelites who left Egypt will get to enter the promised land, except for Joshua and Caleb. They learn a hard lesson that sin and rebellion against God is serious and will be punished. We see sparks of hope throughout the wandering in the desert as God shows mercy to his people. God is always faithful to keep his promises even when we are not. One day God would send his son Jesus to save people from the punishment they deserve for their sin and rebellion, just as he designed it to be.

Memory Verse

Then they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in his promise. They murmured in their tents, and did not obey the voice of the Lord.

Psalm 106:24-25

Worship

Day One

Read

Here are some verses for your family to read about the complaints of the Israelites in the wilderness:

Numbers 11:1-10, 31-34

Numbers 11:1 And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. 2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. 3 So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them. 4 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” 7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. 8 The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. 9 When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it. 10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. 

31 The Lord sent a strong wind from the sea. It blew quail into the area all around the camp. The quail were about three feet above the ground. There were quail a day’s walk in any direction. 32 The people went out and gathered quail. They gathered all that day, that night and the next day. Everyone gathered at least 60 bushels. Then they spread them around the camp. 33 But the Lord became very angry. He gave the people a terrible sickness. This came while the meat was still in their mouths. 34 So the people named that place Kibroth Hattaavah. They named it that because there they buried those who wanted other food.

*Kibroth Hattaavah- This name in Hebrew means “graves of craving.”

Pray

Lead your family in a time of prayer over what you read.

Consider the ACTS model:
A – Adoration/ praise God (remember that this is part of worshiping God)
C – Confession (confess sin and your need of God)
T – Thanksgiving (thank God)
S – Supplication (ask God to supply your needs) 

Heavenly Father, you are a great provider. You are patient with us even when we complain and have ungrateful hearts about the provision you give us, just as the Israelites did in the wilderness. Thank you for caring for us! We ask that you would meet our needs according to your will, not ours. We know your ways are greater than ours! In Jesus name, amen.

Day Two

Read

Here are some verses for your family to read about the spies that were sent out into Canaan:

Numbers 13:1-3, 17, 25-33; 14:1-4

13:1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.” 3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel.

17 Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan…

25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.” 30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

14:1 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

Pray

Lead your family in a time of prayer over what you read.

Consider the ACTS model:
A – Adoration/ praise God (remember that this is part of worshiping God)
C – Confession (confess sin and your need of God)
T – Thanksgiving (thank God)
S – Supplication (ask God to supply your needs) 

Lord, your promises are true and you are always faithful to complete what you say you will do. We confess that we doubt you and your word, just as the Israelites doubted and were afraid to go into the land you had promised to give them. Thank you for your patience and providing the Holy Spirit as our helper! We can not get through on our own, we need you. In Jesus name, amen. 

Day Three

Read

Here are some verses for your family to read about the consequences of the people who disobeyed and distrusted God:

Numbers 14:11-14, 17-24, 32-37

Numbers 14:11 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.” 13 But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, 14 and they will tell the inhabitants of this land… 

17 And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, 18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ 19 Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.” 20 Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, according to your word. 21 But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, 22 none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, 23 shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. 24 But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. 

32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. 34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ 35 I, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.” 36 And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— 37 the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the Lord. 

Pray

Lead your family in a time of prayer over what you read.

Consider the ACTS model:
A – Adoration/ praise God (remember that this is part of worshiping God)
C – Confession (confess sin and your need of God)
T – Thanksgiving (thank God)
S – Supplication (ask God to supply your needs) 

Lord, today we pray Numbers 14, “The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty.” “Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love.” In Jesus name, amen.

Day Four

Read

Here are some verses for your family to read about the continued complaints and consequences of the Israelites as well as God’s graciousness to them even though they don’t deserve it:

Numbers 21:4-9

Numbers 21:4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” 6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Pray

Lead your family in a time of prayer over what you read.

Consider the ACTS model:
A – Adoration/ praise God (remember that this is part of worshiping God)
C – Confession (confess sin and your need of God)
T – Thanksgiving (thank God)
S – Supplication (ask God to supply your needs) 

God, we look to you as the only one who can save us. We complain a lot about our situation but no matter where we are or what we are going through we know that you are near. Thank you for sending Jesus to live the perfect life, die on a cross and rise from the dead, saving us from sin and death. Draw near to us as we walk through this week and help us keep our eyes on you. In Jesus name, amen.

Day Five: Family Sabbath

Be Present

Set aside distractions (electronics, work, chores, etc.) and spend time with God and each other. 

Pray

God, thank you for giving us rest. You created us with limitations and command us to rest to remember You and all You provide. Help us rest in You today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Play

Choose a fun activity to do together as your family rests from work. 

• Create your own children’s book
• Visit a neighbor and share with them something you have learned from your Family Devotional recently
• Go to the park

In YOur Inbox

Get weekly reminders, tips, and access to other resources right from your inbox!