DO YOU EVER HAVE ONE OF THOSE DAYS?
Do you ever have you ‘one of those’ days?
You know the type of day I mean.
One of those days when you could have a lie in and the postman gets you out of bed at 7am.
Or one of those days when you sleep through your alarm and wake up 5 minutes after you should have arrived at work?
Or one of those days when you absolutely need to leave early to be somewhere on time and your child decides that they are going to spend as long as possible getting ready for school!
One of those days when no matter how hard you try you can’t find the time to pray or read your Bible?
One of those days when you hear a friend or loved one is more than a little unwell.
One of those days when everything in this world just seems to cause you pain.
Maybe there are times when it feels like it has been one of those days all week long!
Those are the days when we question what is going on.
Those are the days we wonder if we will be able to make it through them alive.
So how do we get through one of ‘those days'?
What is the secret? What is the solution?
If you are on Facebook you may have seen this solution this week: "Some mornings it’s best to just fill the sink with coffee, dunk your head in and suck."
It’s an option - a caffeine high to boost you through the day - or maybe for some people a quick swig of something stronger ‘just to take the edge off'
Not really a long-term solution is it. So what is?
At one time or another, we will all experience ‘one of those days'.
Life can be inconvenient, life can be difficult, life can be extremely stressful.
Sometimes our lives can be far more complex and dramatic than any movie or TV show could ever be.
We are human, we have emotions and sometimes the day brings more than we think we can bear.
We all have wishes, hopes, dreams, and prayers, some fulfilled, some yet to pass,
some that we may never see answered.
Sometimes we say too much,
other times we do not say enough.
Sometimes we need someone to share our heart with, sometimes we know we should pray,
but we can’t seem to find the words.
We say we have faith in God and His Divine Guidance but struggle to trust Him in those days.
When we should choose to trust,
we choose to try in our own strength,
or we choose our way instead of God’s way.
On those days we can react in a way that gives no glory to God.
On those days we can build a barrier between ourselves and God and then wonder why we feel afraid or alone and why we struggle to know what to do.
When we need to know God is with us,
when we need to know God is for us,
when we need to know Father God loves us and cares for us,
why do we ignore Him?
When we need to know what to do,
when we need divine wisdom and guidance,
why is prayer often the last thing we do instead of the first?
Our God is Eternal, He is the God who is always there - morning, noon, and night.
Every day God is listening.
Every day God is willing and able to guide us.
Every day God is able to strengthen and bless us.
It doesn’t matter what kind of day you have had or are having, Good days or bad days or even one of those days - every day is a day when we can come to our God and speak to Him in prayer.
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When was the last time you prayed and asked God to strengthen you?
When was the last time you prayed and asked God in difficult circumstances for your spirit to be calmed?
When was the last time you prayed and asked God to increase your Faith?
When was the last time you prayed and asked God to forgive you?
When was the last time you prayed and asked God for a fresh encounter with Him in your life?
When was the last time you prayed and asked God to take Divine Control of your life?
Are you willing to surrender all to Him and allow His Influence, His Power, and His Love to guide you every day?
Friends, the long term solution is Jesus.
He is the one that can make a real difference in our lives.
He is the one we need to seek.
He is the one who can help.
He is the only long-term solution that is guaranteed to last throughout eternity.
Good days or bad He is there for you and for me.
Jesus Christ can set us free, he can bring the release we need in every situation.
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Throughout history, God has been with His people
yet throughout history, people have had good days and bad days and many of those days.
Think about Moses for a moment - he was a man who had his fair share of different kinds of days. Days of amazing blessing and days of difficult trial.
This evening I want us to spend a few moments thinking about a specific day recorded in Numbers 11 -
a time when Moses was really having one of those days - a time when the people of God were complaining.
Let me put the day into context for you:
The Children of Israel are on their way to the Promised Land.
It’s only been 3 days since they had left Mount Sinai.
They have Moses as their leader and God as their Provider and Guide.
God has successfully brought the Israelites out of Egypt and ended their slavery.
The Israelites crossed the Red Sea on dry land,
they had fresh water provided for them from a rock,
they have received the ten commandments,
and God’s presence is evident to them in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
In spite of all the things going right for the Children of Israel they still found something to complain about.
Israel thought it was one of those days.
If you think about it, with everything God had done for them - Israel should have been shouting with joy all the way through the wilderness.
They should have entered into Canaan with a shout of praise and singing songs of victory,
They should have been praying and singing -
rejoicing in their blessings
thankful for the love of God in their lives.
But that was not the way it happened.
They began to murmur and complain about how hard it was to travel in the wilderness.
They quickly forgot what God had done for them.
They ignored the great miracles that God had used to save them!
God had brought plagues upon Egypt to force Pharaoh to let his people go.
God had parted the waters of the Red Sea so they could leave Egypt.
God had provided water for them when they were thirsty.
God had given them Manna, Bread from Heaven to eat every day so that no one would go hungry.
God had begun to teach them his Law and given them instructions on how to build the tabernacle so His glory would come into the camp and dwell among His people.
God had chosen Israel as his own people and he would not fail to provide for their every need.
But Israel was so quick to forget and in Numbers 11:1-2 we read these words, “Soon the people began to complain about their hardship, and the LORD heard everything they said. Then the LORD’s anger blazed against them, and he sent a fire to rage among them, and he destroyed some of the people in the outskirts of the camp. 2Then the people screamed to Moses for help, and when he prayed to the LORD, the fire stopped. 3After that, the area was known as Taberah (which means “the place of burning”), because fire from the LORD had burned among them there.” (Numbers 11:1-3 NLT)
In spite of all the things going right for the Children of Israel they still found something to complain about.
And that is just how it is sometimes, it does not matter how much God blesses someone they still find fault.
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How often do we do the same?
Those of us who have come to Christ.
Those of us who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour, we have been set free,
we should be shouting for joy.
We, God’s people, you and I, should be the happiest, most joyful, most thankful, and most victorious people on earth,
but that’s not always the way we behave is it?
Just like the Children of Israel, we like to complain.
And if we are having one of those days, then that makes sense.
But we probably complain more than once in a while about our lot in life.
No one ever promised us that there would be less trouble in life if we served the Lord.
The Word of God makes little distinction between the troubles that Christians and non-Christians will experience in this life.
The Children of Israel found out,
like you and I already know,
just because we are walking in the will of God,
living the best way we can,
trying to be what God wants us to be,
does not mean that this life will be perfect.
We will all experience one of those days.
We will all experience times of discouragement.
We will all experience times of temptation,
We will all experience days when we wonder why!
The question is
How will you handle those times when they come?
Will you complain and murmur?
Will you doubt God’s power to bring you through and supply your needs?
Will you forget where God has brought you from?
Will you remember where you came from,
but forget what life was like without God?
Israel forgot; Israel complained; Israel murmured; even after God had done so much for them.
Their attitude, doubt, and fear made God angry and he sent judgment upon them.
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The Holy Fire of God fell on them and many were destroyed at the edge of the camp......
Why only on the edge?
Why didn’t the fire fall in the middle of the camp?
Is it because those who complained and were most unfaithful stayed on the edge?
They didn’t get all the way in with everyone else.
Maybe the worst complainers were staying close to the back of the camp where they could easily turn back if they wanted to.
Think about the modern church for a moment.
Think about those who call themselves Christian.
Yet are not really committed to following Jesus.
Look at any church today and you will see people who just hang around the edges of the church.
People who won’t get in and are afraid to get out!
People who don’t want to be committed to serving or loving God.
People who are happy to sit on the fence, when really they need to decide what place God should have in their lives.
People need to place God at the center of their lives not at the edges.
What about you?
Are you in the middle or at the edge?
Have you chosen to surround yourself with the love of God or with the things of the world?
All of us have to decide which way to go.
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You would think that the rest of Israel would learn from the mistakes of those who had stayed out on the edges, but that wasn’t to be so.
Israel didn’t learn anything from the fire of God falling upon them.
Later in the same chapter Numbers, they are complaining and murmuring again.
It wasn’t enough that God gave them their “daily bread”.
It wasn’t enough that he quenched their thirst and performed mighty miracles for them.
They were never satisfied.
All they wanted was what they didn’t have.
They didn’t see the blessings they already had.
Look at Numbers 11:4-9 4Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt. And the people of Israel also began to complain. “Oh, for some meat!” they exclaimed. 5“We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted. 6But now our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!”
7The manna looked like small coriander seeds, and it was pale yellow like gum resin. 8The people would go out and gather it from the ground. They made flour by grinding it with hand mills or pounding it in mortars. Then they boiled it in a pot and made it into flat cakes. These cakes tasted like pastries baked with olive oil. 9The manna came down on the camp with the dew during the night.
Every day they ate Manna, a food the miraculously appeared each morning — and yet that was the problem. They wanted meat.
Moses’ problem started with a group of people identified as rabble.
A small group of people was able to influence the rest of the Israelite camp.
The rabble was bored with Manna;
they wanted something different.
They wanted meat.
The rabble kept complaining until they had all the people demanding meat.
This was one of those days Moses could have done without.
Some people don’t just want God in all of His sufficiency, they want God and something else.
And what they are really saying is:
“God; You are not enough for me.”
I suppose the question is are we grateful?
Are we be satisfied with what God gives us?
or Do we complain because we think He is holding back something we deserve to have?
We know that God has us in the palm of his hand. We know that all things work for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.
We say we believe that God wants the very best for us.
So why do we doubt God’s love for us?
Why do our praises so quickly turn into complaints?
When we should look at the miracles that surround us when we should be aware of the blessings that God pours into our lives -
Why is our focus on what we don’t have rather than what we have been given?
Let's draw to a close.
Israel had a hard lesson to be learned.
They had to learn that what God wanted them to have, he would give to them.
They had to learn that God, in His sovereignty knew what is best for them, when to feed them, what to feed them, where to lead them, and how to get them to their Promised Land and fulfill His covenant with them.
That’s what we must come to realise as well.
If it wasn’t for the cross of Christ, we could say that life hasn’t changed much between Moses’ time and ours.
But because of Jesus, we can face the challenges of life with faith and, share each other's burdens, and live in the reality that we have been filled with the Spirit and equipped.
We can live like our whole life is one of those days.
Or we can live like people who know the good news that God has the ability to change our lives and the Spirit empowers us to change our world!
There is nothing in this life like Jesus.
There is no other answer.
There is no other life worth living.
Jesus knows what you need when you need it - and he also knows the best timing and the best manner in which to give you what you need.
Our last verse is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 it says:
Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
Easier read than lived isn’t it.
Joyful on a good day... yes
Joyful on a bad day... yes
Joyful on one of those days... yes
Pray on a good day.
Pray on a bad day.
Pray on one of those days.
Be thankful on a good day.
Be thankful on a bad day.
Be thankful on one of those days.
Live by faith and not by sight.
Live according to the will of God and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Be a people of powerful prayer and trust God in good days, bad days and even on ‘those days’.
Amen
