Above And Beyond

Numbers 17: 18

...The rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds, and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.

There was a lot going on here in this section of this book. 

A little background first: The Israelites had come out of Egypt with extraordinary miracles worked against their slave-masters, and the Red Sea had parted for them to walk through it on dry ground, while the Egyptian army that followed them was drowned. 

And Moses has received the Law from God on the mountain, and they have even by now built the Tabernacle with all its furniture and the garments for the priests to wear while doing their jobs in the Tabernacle.

And God was still meeting with Moses face-to-face to lead and direct him in everything God wanted him to do.

Now certain arrogant men gathered together against Moses, jealous of his position, and accused Moses of promoting himself over them. 

Moses had never asked for all this. He had never wanted to lead this whole Nation at all, but God put him in that position. Now, when he heard what these people said, he fell down with his face on the ground! (16:4).

Then when God dealt with these complainers, the whole congregation was so shocked that they blamed Moses, again.

Finally, God said He would put an end to all this foolderall, and told him to gather a staff from each tribe, and the staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites (17:5). God is teaching these people instead of destroying them all (see 16:45).

God always does everything He can to deal with each one of us, and all of us, to convince us to follow Him, rather than our own ideas. Remember this when you are going through stuff in your life. 

Now He said that the staff would sprout--Ha! See what it did:

...The rod of Aaron for the House of Levi had sprouted [like He said], and put forth buds, and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds (Wow!) (17:18).

God never does a half-measure. He always goes above and beyond anything we could even hope for! He had said that one rod would bud, but it more than budded; it flowered and ripened the almonds, too! Way far above and beyond what any of them expected.

That's how God likes to give: Extravagantly! He likes to overwhelm us with His generosity, to lavish upon us His love and blessings!

O my Father, You pour out Your good gifts upon us so lavishly, according to Your lovingkindness and Your extensive, unlimited Treasures in Glory! You abound to us more than we can understand or withstand! O Father, thank You, thank You, that You are God Almighty, Who does all Your will, all the time, to accomplish and fulfill all Your purposes for all of us. Even when we continually grumble and complain, You teach us to change our outlook, to see as You see, not what the World presents. 

Continue to teach us, dear Father, how to let Your joy of the Lord be our strength as we battle the World, our own flesh, and our enemy in high spiritual places. That we will think Your thoughts, not ours; live according to Your ways, not ours; and do the things You designed each of us to do, to serve You by serving others. 

Then when all has been done, and the time has come, then You will send Your Son, our Lord and King, to return to this globe to set up His Kingdom, sitting upon His Throne. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!