By Mary Vee
Daniel 9
From Daniel's Journal
My name is Daniel. I am a prophet of God and a prisoner in the land of Babylon with many other Jews.
I recently received the words given by God to the prophet Jeremiah. The message said we would be in captivity a total of seventy years. We had seven more to go.
I suppose I should have been happy that we had served sixty three years and only had seven more to go. But, I must admit, I wanted to go home. I wanted to go back to the home where I lived as a boy.
My heart ached for the other Jews living as captives here in Babylon. Seven years can seem so long.
I bowed by my prayer window and said this prayer on the behalf of all the Jews living here in captivity:
"O great and awesome God, You are the one who keeps Your covenant of love with all who love You and obey Your commands, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled. We have turned away from Your commands and laws. We have not listened to Your servants the prophets who speak in your name to our kings, princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.
"Lord You are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame because of our unfaithfulness to You. You, O Lord are merciful and forgiving even though we have rebelled against You. We have not obeyed You or kept the laws You gave us through Your servants and prophets. We have all sinned and turned away, refusing to obey You.
"The curses written in the Law of Moses have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against You. You have done what You said You would do. Still we have not searched for Your favor by turning away from our sins and giving attention to Your truth. You have been righteous in bringing this disaster on us because we did not obey You.
"O Lord, in keeping with all Your righteous ways, turn away Your anger from us. Please hear my words, I am Your servant. Look at the empty sanctuary and city that bears Your Name. We are not asking because we are righteous, but because of Your great mercy.
"O Lord, please listen! Please forgive. O Lord, please hear and act. Do not delay. Your city and Your people bear Your Name. Forgive us."
While I was still speaking to the Almighty God and praying to Him, Gabriel, the man I had seen before, appeared before me. It took me by surprise.
Come back next time to see what happened.
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1. How many years had the people of Judah been captives in Babylon?
2. How many more years did the people have to serve as captives?
3. How did Daniel know?
4. What did Daniel do for the people of Judah?
5. Who suddenly appeared before Daniel while he was praying?
By Mary Vee
Joshua 7
Achan's Thoughts
Joshua, the Israelite leader, and all the elders came back to the camp last night after spending time with God. Although they didn't speak to each other, their angry faces showed us something went wrong.
We lost the battle at Ai yesterday. No one knew why. Joshua and the elders walked to a place outside of camp to talk with God. The news must not have been good.
Joshua sent messengers throughout the camp calling for a meeting in the morning. I wondered what he'd say. Did God have new instructions? Maybe we shouldn't have attacked Ai.
The next morning I led my household to the meeting place and sat with others in our family. Joshua stood and raised his arms to quiet everyone. "The Lord told me we lost at Ai because one of our people sinned. Someone stole from the city of Jericho and hid what he took here in the camp." He lowered his arms and closed his hands into a tight fist. Joshua was mad.
I thought about the beautiful robe, wedge of gold, and money pouch hidden in my tent. The soft material and bright colors would make me look important at a fancy dinner. No one saw me take them from the Jericho house or hide them in my tent. Nope. No one knew.
Our leader cleared his throat. "The Lord said we would not win any battles until the stolen things were destroyed."
He stared at each of us as if waiting for someone to confess. I wouldn't. I would keep the robe and money hidden until this whole situation would be forgotten.
Joshua called the leaders of each tribe forward. He stepped in front of each man then turned to the people. "The Lord showed me the sin is in Judah's tribe. The rest of you men may sit."
The leader of Judah, my tribe, stayed in front. Joshua looked at our families. He waited a few minutes again. Perhaps he still wanted the guilty person to confess. I wished he would, too. Then we could get back to work.
Joshua shook his head then took a deep breath. "Every family leader from the tribe of Judah must come forward." A large group of men stood and walked toward him, including the leader of my family, the Zarhites.
Joshua had them form a line then he stood before each one, like he did with the tribal leaders. He stopped in front of the leader of the Zarhites. "Your family. The Lord showed me the sin is in your family." The other leaders sat down. Joshua look toward the Zarhite families. He just stood there and waited for a moment. I wanted to go back to my tent, dig up the robe, and rub the rich material against my skin. I wished he'd hurry and get done.
Joshua walked toward the Zarhite families. He went to each man, one by one and stopped in front of Zabdi, my grandfather. I must admit, I started to feel nervous. The robe, gold, and money pouch couldn't have caused all this trouble? No. It must have been bigger. One of my cousins must have stolen something of great value. I was sure I didn't cause the problem.
Joshua went to each of grandfather's sons, including Camri, my dad. He stopped when he reached my dad. "The sin is in your household. Have you sons stand before me."
I looked at my brothers and wondered which one had caused the trouble. Joshua walked to each of us until he came to me. He stopped right in front of me. Me? Why did he stare at me?
Joshua shook his head. "My son, I beg you. Give glory to the Lord God of Israel. Confess what you have done. Don't hide any of the truth from me."
All of Israel stared at me with angry faces. The robe I loved hurt all these people?
Tears dripped down my face. "I--I--" My knees fell to the ground. "I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel. When I saw a beautiful robe in a Jericho house, a pouch of money, and a gold wedge I--I wanted them with all my heart. I took them and hid them in the ground under my tent. I--" How could I say anything else? My sin had hurt all of Israel.
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1. What battle did Israel lose?
2. Why did they lose?
3. Why was Joshua angry?
4. How did Joshua figure out who sinned?
5. What did Achan do?
6. What did you learn from this story?
Photo courtesy of: Christian Images Resource
By Mary Vee
Numbers 20
Moses Thoughts
So many days I'd heard the people's complaints.
This is wrong. That is horrible. Why isn't there food like in Egypt? Why isn't there more water? He did this--she did that. They never stopped.
If it weren't for my daily talks with the Lord, I'd get sick. I wish they knew how much I cared about them and how I'd asked the Lord to give them mercy, forgiveness, and to provide their needs.
We'd camped in the Wilderness of Zin and ran out of stored water. This morning, before I had a chance to go to the Tabernacle, the whole camp came to my tent. It didn't take a genius to know they were angry about something.
"Hey Moses. When will we get water?" "Yeah! Did you bring us to the wilderness to die?" "There isn't any grain or figs or vines or pomegranates or water here." "Why didn't we just stay in Egypt?"
My heart ached. I felt like weeping, but didn't let myself. I'd heard enough and wanted to leave. Aaron walked with me to the Tabernacle. I needed God. Aaron's sad face showed he needed God, too.
We stood at the door of the Tabernacle then fell on our faces. "God--please help us."
The glory of the Lord appeared, just as He had every other time we called for help. "Moses, take Aaron and your rod to the rock by the people. Speak to the rock so that the people see you. When you do, water will flow for all My people and their animals."
Aaron and I called the children of Israel back to the rock. I didn't have a chance to say one word before they complained again. "Where's our water? Where's our water?"
I took a deep breath and waited for them to quiet. My heart pounded in my head and my hands grew sweaty. I pounded my rod into the ground and screamed, "Quiet! Listen to me you rebels! Do Aaron and I have to bring water for you out of this rock?" I raised my hand and struck the rock twice as hard as I could with my rod.
Water gushed out, spilling into a pool. I stared at the people pushing and shoving each other to slop water into their mouths first. No one said thank you.
Aaron laid his hand on my shoulder then hugged me. "Come, my brother, have a drink."
"No. Not now. The Lord is calling us." We walked back to the Tabernacle. I knew--in every inch of my body I knew I had sinned. I hit the rock instead of speaking to it as the Lord told me to. But, worse than that--much worse than that, I told the people Aaron and I would make the water come from the rock.
How could I have said those words?
We fell to the ground at the Tabernacle door and laid our faces in the dirt. The Lord said, "Moses and Aaron, because you did not believe Me, or honor Me in the eyes of the children of Israel as the water came from the rock you will not be allowed to take them into the Promised Land which I have given them."
I went back to my tent and wept.
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1. What did the children of Israel do wrong?
2. What did they want?
3. What should they have done?
4. What did Moses do wrong?
5. What was his punishment?
Something to think about: When the ten spies convinced the people not to go in to the Promised Land, God said Caleb and Joshua would be the only ones from the adults allowed to go into the land, since they obeyed. Although Moses and Aaron obeyed God at that time, do you think God gave a clue that Moses and Aaron wouldn't be allowed to go either?
