God’s Rod

(1) And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, (2) Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod according to the house of their fathers, of all their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve rods: write thou every man’s name upon his rod. (3) And thou shalt write Aaron’s name upon the rod of Levi: for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their fathers. (4) And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you. (5) And it shall come to pass, that the man’s rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you. (6) And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers’ houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. (7) And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness. (8) And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.

I. Am I the only one that wonders How God Thinks. I know what the Bible says in Isa. 55:(8) For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. (9) For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

A. With that said let me ask, which comes first, the day or the night? Most would say the day. Night comes when the day is over. That's what most people would say, when it gets dark it is the end of the day. That's how most people in the world see it. Day leads into night. But it's not how God sees it. If the day leads to night, then everything goes from light to darkness. Everything gets darker. To the world everything is in the process of darkening.

1. We go from day to night, from youth to aging, from strength to weakness, and ultimately from life to death. It's the way of the world, but it's not the way of God. When God created the universe, it was not day and night. It is written, Gen. 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. There was evening, and then there was morning. The day began with night. There was night and then there was day. In God, it is the night that comes first. That's why Jewish holidays always begin at sunset; not only Jewish holidays, but every biblical day. Each day begins at sunset. There is evening and then morning.

2. The world moves from day to night. But in God, it is the opposite; He goes from night to day ...from darkness to light. The children of this world live from day to night, but the children of God should be living from night to day. We are born again in the darkness and move to the day, and if you belong to God, then that is the order of your life. You are to go from darkness to light, from weakness to strength, from despair to hope, from guilt to innocence, from tears to joy, and from death to life; every night of your life will lead to the dawn. Weeping endures for the night but joy comes in the morning.

3. We are to live according to God's divine order of time ...that your entire life should be always moving away from the darkness and to the light. God moves us from our problems not in to them. God is telling us to move forward, move out. Your life, job, health, home may be in darkness but you are the light that is to shine in those areas. 1Pe 2:9 But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

B. Jesus said for many be called, but few chosen. Do you know who you are? Sadly, this question is still being asked today, but what is most alarming is we as church folk, blood bought, children of the Redeemed, are looking into our mirrors asking who am I. We live in a time where we feel that we must carry some sort of label. People run to Dr. Phil not for help but Identity. They want a label a term to help identify who they are and why they are who they are.