[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR MONDAY FEBRUARY 14

[Donnie Parrett]

DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR MONDAY FEBRUARY 14

MEMORY SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK

Judges 21:25
25In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was
right in his own eyes.

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WORD OF WISDOM

It's not over until you quit.

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DAILY DEVOTION

Sing a New Song


He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God.
(Psalm 40:3, NLT)

	 It's easy to complain about your boss, about the traffic, or about
a relationship. We create much of our own unhappiness by how we respond to
negative things, how we approach life. Here's the key: When you complain,
you remain; but when you praise, you'll be raised. In Psalm 40, David says
that if you have "a new song" of praise in your heart, you'll see more of
God's favor. He said that he was lifted out of "the pit of despair." When
you develop a habit of always thinking about God's goodness, seeing the
best, singing a hymn of praise, you'll have joy despite what's happening
around you.
You might have been through some difficulties, but you have to start making
a new melody in your heart. Start thanking God that new doors are opening,
and your best days are still ahead. If you get your song back, you'll start
feeling the joy bubbling up, you'll get your passion back, and you'll see
your dreams start coming to life.
	 
A Prayer for Today

"Father, I worship You because You are worthy, Almighty God. Thank You that
You put a new song in my heart that lifts me up no matter what is happening
around me. I choose to shut the door of complaining and declare that my best
days are still ahead. In Jesus' Name, Amen."

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DAILY BIBLE READING

Numbers 19-21 New King James Version
Laws of Purification
19 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 "This is the
[a]ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: 'Speak to the
children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without [b]blemish, in
which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never come. 3 You shall
give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it outside the camp, and it
shall be slaughtered before him; 4 and Eleazar the priest shall take some of
its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood seven times
directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting. 5 Then the heifer shall be
burned in his sight: its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be
burned. 6 And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and
cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer. 7 Then the priest
shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come
into the camp; the priest shall be unclean until evening. 8 And the one who
burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be
unclean until evening. 9 Then a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes
of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they
shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for the water
of [c]purification; it is for purifying from sin. 10 And the one who gathers
the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until
evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the
stranger who dwells among them.

11 'He who touches the dead [d]body of anyone shall be unclean seven days.
12 He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the
seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the
third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. 13 Whoever touches
the body of anyone who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the
tabernacle of the Lord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall
be unclean, because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him; his
uncleanness is still on him.

14 'This is the law when a man dies in a tent: All who come into the tent
and all who are in the tent shall be unclean seven days; 15 and every open
vessel, which has no cover fastened on it, is unclean. 16 Whoever in the
open field touches one who is slain by a sword or who has died, or a bone of
a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

17 'And for an unclean person they shall take some of the ashes of the
heifer burnt for purification from sin, and [e]running water shall be put on
them in a vessel. 18 A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the
water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were
there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave. 19
The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the
seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, wash his
clothes, and bathe in water; and at evening he shall be clean.

20 'But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person
shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has defiled the
sanctuary of the Lord. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on
him; he is unclean. 21 It shall be a perpetual statute for them. He who
sprinkles the water of purification shall wash his clothes; and he who
touches the water of purification shall be unclean until evening. 22
Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the person who
touches it shall be unclean until evening.' "

Moses' Error at Kadesh
20 Then the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the
Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; and
Miriam died there and was buried there.

2 Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together
against Moses and Aaron. 3 And the people contended with Moses and spoke,
saying: "If only we had died when our brethren died before the Lord! 4 Why
have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we
and our animals should die here? 5 And why have you made us come up out of
Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or
vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink." 6 So Moses and
Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle
of meeting, and they [f]fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord
appeared to them.

7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 "Take the rod; you and your
brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before
their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them
out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals." 9 So
Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him.

10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and
he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of
this rock?" 11 Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his
rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals
drank.

12 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe Me,
to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not
bring this assembly into the land which I have given them."

13 This was the water of [g]Meribah, because the children of Israel
contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them.

Passage Through Edom Refused
14 Now Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom. "Thus says
your brother Israel: 'You know all the hardship that has befallen us, 15 how
our fathers went down to Egypt, and we dwelt in Egypt a long time, and the
Egyptians [h]afflicted us and our fathers. 16 When we cried out to the Lord,
He heard our voice and sent the Angel and brought us up out of Egypt; now
here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. 17 Please let us
pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor
will we drink water from wells; we will go along the King's Highway; we will
not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through
your territory.' "

18 Then Edom said to him, "You shall not pass through my land, lest I come
out against you with the sword."

19 So the children of Israel said to him, "We will go by the Highway, and if
I or my livestock drink any of your water, then I will pay for it; let me
only pass through on foot, nothing more."

20 Then he said, "You shall not pass through." So Edom came out against them
with many men and with a strong hand. 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel
passage through his territory; so Israel turned away from him.

Death of Aaron
22 Now the children of Israel, the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh
and came to Mount Hor. 23 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor
by the border of the land of Edom, saying: 24 "Aaron shall [i]be gathered to
his people, for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the
children of Israel, because you rebelled against My word at the water of
Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor;
26 and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; for
Aaron shall be gathered to his people and die there." 27 So Moses did just
as the Lord commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the
congregation. 28 Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on
Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses
and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 Now when all the congregation
saw that Aaron was dead, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron thirty
days.

Canaanites Defeated at Hormah
21 The king of Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South, heard that
Israel was coming on the road to Atharim. Then he fought against Israel and
took some of them prisoners. 2 So Israel made a vow to the Lord, and said,
"If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly
destroy their cities." 3 And the Lord listened to the voice of Israel and
delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their
cities. So the name of that place was called [j]Hormah.

The Bronze Serpent
4 Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around
the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very [k]discouraged on
the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses: "Why have you
brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food
and no water, and our soul [l]loathes this worthless bread." 6 So the Lord
sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of
the people of Israel died.

7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have
spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away
the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

8 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole;
and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall
live." 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it
was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent,
he lived.

>From Mount Hor to Moab
10 Now the children of Israel moved on and camped in Oboth. 11 And they
journeyed from Oboth and camped at [m]Ije Abarim, in the wilderness which is
east of Moab, toward the sunrise. 12 From there they moved and camped in the
Valley of Zered. 13 From there they moved and camped on the other side of
the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the
Amorites; for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the
Amorites. 14 Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord:

[n]"Waheb in Suphah,
The brooks of the Arnon,
15 And the slope of the brooks
That reaches to the dwelling of Ar,
And lies on the border of Moab."

16 From there they went to Beer, which is the well where the Lord said to
Moses, "Gather the people together, and I will give them water." 17 Then
Israel sang this song:

"Spring up, O well!
All of you sing to it-
18 The well the leaders sank,
Dug by the nation's nobles,
By the lawgiver, with their staves."

And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah, 19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel,
from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20 and from Bamoth, in the valley that is in the
[o]country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah which looks down on the
[p]wasteland.

King Sihon Defeated
21 Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, 22
"Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into fields or
vineyards; we will not drink water from wells. We will go by the King's
Highway until we have passed through your territory." 23 But Sihon would not
allow Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people
together and [q]went out against Israel in the wilderness, and he came to
Jahaz and fought against Israel. 24 Then Israel defeated him with the edge
of the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok,
as far as the people of Ammon; for the border of the people of Ammon was
fortified. 25 So Israel took all these cities, and Israel dwelt in all the
cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and in all its villages. 26 For Heshbon
was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the
former king of Moab, and had taken all his land from his hand as far as the
Arnon. 27 Therefore those who speak in [r]proverbs say:

"Come to Heshbon, let it be built;
Let the city of Sihon be repaired.

28 "For fire went out from Heshbon,
A flame from the city of Sihon;
It consumed Ar of Moab,
The lords of the heights of the Arnon.
29 Woe to you, Moab!
You have perished, O people of Chemosh!
He has given his sons as fugitives,
And his daughters into captivity,
To Sihon king of the Amorites.

30 "But we have shot at them;
Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon.
Then we laid waste as far as Nophah,
Which reaches to Medeba."

31 Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. 32 Then Moses sent to
[s]spy out Jazer; and they took its villages and drove out the Amorites who
were there.

King Og Defeated
33 And they turned and went up by the way to Bashan. So Og king of Bashan
went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 34 Then
the Lord said to Moses, "Do not fear him, for I have [t]delivered him into
your hand, with all his people and his land; and you shall do to him as you
did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon." 35 So they
defeated him, his sons, and all his people, until there was no survivor left
him; and they took possession of his land.

Footnotes
Numbers 19:2 statute
Numbers 19:2 defect
Numbers 19:9 Lit. impurity
Numbers 19:11 Lit. soul of man
Numbers 19:17 Lit. living
Numbers 20:6 prostrated themselves
Numbers 20:13 Lit. Contention
Numbers 20:15 did evil to
Numbers 20:24 Die and join his ancestors
Numbers 21:3 Lit. Utter Destruction
Numbers 21:4 impatient
Numbers 21:5 detests
Numbers 21:11 Lit. The Heaps of Abarim
Numbers 21:14 Ancient unknown places; Vg. What He did in the Red Sea
Numbers 21:20 Lit. field
Numbers 21:20 Heb. Jeshimon
Numbers 21:23 attacked
Numbers 21:27 parables
Numbers 21:32 secretly search
Numbers 21:34 given you victory over him