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God Wants to be Our God Numbers 15:38 God wanted to be their God. God desired to be with them and allow them to have His presence with them continually. He wanted to care for them, feed them and give them His salvation. How it must have grieved Him to see them turn away from Him and allow unbelief to set in so many times. The children of Israel were chosen from out of among many nations. This was His chosen people. He chose this people to bring salvation to the whole world. All God wanted in return was for them to have respect unto His commandments and not take them lightly. The commandments were to be obeyed and followed. They were the word of God. To ignore them was to despise them. At first this fellowship with God and the written word was given only to Israel. Perhaps that may be because the only one who had faith in God at one time was Abraham. The Gentile nations had no hope and were without God. Yet we do see occasions when God cared for other nations and allowed them to come to Him through faith. God Wanted to be their God also. Rahab heard that God was moving among the Israelites. She heard of the crossing of the Red Sea and how the Egyptians were defeated. When the spies were sent into the land where Rahab lived, she hid the spies from her fellow countrymen. In doing this she hoped to save her family and herself from the wrath of God. Rahab was actually a harlot. Yet God gave her a chance to be saved just because she believed and feared God. In verse 11 below, she states that their God was God in heaven and the earth beneath. Her faith in God delivered both her and her family. Isn’t God wonderful. His plan of salvation from the beginning was meant for all nations. Here is the story in Joshua Joshua 2:1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there. This story is an example of how God did not leave the Gentile or unbelieving nations in the dark. Somehow through traders, travelers and messengers, His word gets out. Rahab knew that God had given the land she lived on to Israel. He recognized this by faith. She was actually saved by faith. Another Example: Ruth Ruth 1:15 The book of Ruth tells the story of a man named Elimelech was lived in Bethlehem-judah. A famine in that land caused him to take his wife, Naomi and two sons, Mahlon and Chilion to go into the land of Moab to survive. Both sons married. One married Orpah and the other married Ruth. Moabites did not serve the true God but had gone into idolatry. The Moabs descended from the family of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. So at one time they knew better. After a time, Naomi’s husband died. Later the two sons died also. It was then that Naomi decided to return to her own homeland. She heard that the Lord had brought her homeland out of famine. She instructed her daughters-in-law to return to their own families. After much weeping and tarrying, Orpah returned home but Ruth clave to Naomi refusing to go back. Ruth chose to go with her mother in law and chose her God rather than the false gods of her own people. Ruth became part of the direct line from which would come Jesus Christ, the savior of the whole world. So we see that even though the law and promises were given to Israel, through faith and determination, those outside of Israel could enter into a relationship with the true and living God. After the coming of Jesus Christ, salvation came unto the whole world, not just Israel. Now all who believed upon the Son of God, Jesus Christ could be adopted into the family of God. God becomes our God too. God wants this so much that He thought of a way to reconcile us to Him. Sin separates us from God and keeps us from having fellowship with Him. When Jesus willingly died on the cross, He actually was paying the penalty of sin in our place. This became the way of salvation for all. Like any gift though, it can be accepted or refused. We can refuse this way of salvation and be lost forever or we can accept this salvation and become a child of God with the promise of eternal life. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. We see God’s desire for us in the above verse. He is unwilling that any should perish. He wants to save. He wants to be our God. 1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. To those who love God, God has prepared a wonderful place. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God wants to be our God.
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