Sowing our seeds of discontent

In reflection

This morning the Lord is showing me through the book of Numbers 21:4-10 how easily when things don't go as planned how we sow our seeds of discontent, our seeds of discouragement and start to blame and point the finger at perhaps those who are leading us, our spouses, our parents, our boss.

Here is the story of Moses leading the people through to the promised land but in order to get there they had to go around Edom and they grew impatient in the process and started to speak against God and against Moses.
"Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!"
Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them, they bit the people and many Israelites died.
The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us". So Moses prayed for the people.

We reap what we sow. They sowed death by their words, they didn't speak life and encouragement and so they received death through the sending of the snakes. But because of Moses giving grace and forgiveness when they asked for it, life was brought back into their situation.
v8 The Lord said to Moses. "Make a snake and put it up on a pole, anyone who is bitten can look at it and live."

So the Lord provided an opportunity for redemption in the old Testament and we have that through Jesus in the New, but there is still a recognition of what we are doing so that we no longer continue in a way that leads to death, but rather be a people who bring life wherever we go.

The Lord showed me a prime example of yesterday where something didn't go as planned and so how I started to sow seeds of discontent toward a person and a situation to those around me, voicing my opinion of the situation, which did not speak life but instead sowed seeds of disbelief, sowed seeds of mistrust, sowed seeds of dishonour. So hence this morning in seeing this, I ask forgiveness and I receive forgiveness. But what most of all I receive is a new way of speaking, of seeing the way I speak into situations or people and how easily and unknowingly I can speak 'death' instead of life and it humbles me again and makes me grateful again that I have 'seen' something that is a stumbling block for me and for those around me.

So this morning lets be a people who sows seeds of life, hope, encouragement, and edification to those around us, not grumbling and grizzling when it doesn't go our way. Bless you heaps.

James 5:19

"My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this 'Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins'."

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