I was doing my Bible study early this morning and connected to a website that was giving me the Hebrew pronunciation, definition and origin of the names of God. It was one of the most interesting things I've looked at in a long time. I am amazed at the way God uses language to express Himself to us.

I was lead to the website while studying for a ladies class that I will be teaching in June. The class will be on "Spiritual Mothering" not little children, but the Titus II spiritual mothering, as in the Older women teaching the younger women. In the book the author, Susan Hunt, in speaking of God's character, begins to give the definition of one of God's names "El Shaddai".

She began with the definitions of mother and mothering.
Mother: a female that has borne an offspring. A female who has adopted a child or otherwise established a maternal relationship with another person.
Mothering: to give birth to...to create and care for; instigate and carry through. To watch over, nourish, and protect.

Based on these definitions: Spiritual Mothering is when a woman possession faith and spiritual maturity enters into a nurturing relaitionship with a younger woman in order to encourage and equip her to live for God's glory.
Susan continues by stating this:
"God's relationship with His people forms the pinnacle for the spiritual mothering concept defined above." This is where the name "El Shaddai" comes in. I never knew this, but confirmed it this morning.

"The traditional translations of scripture have consistently rendered this name "Almighty." But to appreciate it's full flavor; it will be helpful to examine its Hebrew roots. El is a shortened form of "Elohim" which sets forth the might, the strength, and the excellence of God. This is where it gets interesting "Shad"is the Hebrew word for breast. Shaddai pictures God's fullness or bounty, his tenderness, his generosity, his desire to nurture us and make us fruitful. In one name "El Shaddai" God's attributes of might and tenderness are brought together.!" Isn't it wonderful to know that a God that is so powerful, also loves us so much that his tenderness toward us is comparable to that of a nursing mother. As a mother who nursed her babies, I can tell you that there is no other bonding relationship that is more precious.

Numbers 12-14 Since we are blogging through a chronological Bible these chapters in Numbers and the ninetieth Psalm were written together chronologically.

Dissension of Aaron and Miriam (12:1-16)
God commanded Moses, Aaron and Miriam to meet with him at the door of the tabernacle. There he came down in the cloud and caused Miriam to contract leprosy. They feared for her very life...Moses intervened in prayer and she was sent out of the camp for seven days and then allowed to return free of the disease. God is using Miriam and Aaron as examples here to show how seriously he judges those who would dare to speak out against a prophet. I don't pretend to know the heart or thoughts of God, but; it makes me wonder about an application for today. If we speak out against a man of God today, what would the consequences be? Could it be that this example was also set forth for us to be aware of our criticism of our pastor? I've heard some pretty harsh things said about pastors who did not deserve the wrath that was bestowed on them and I always wonder if and how God might judge the ones who are critical of him. After all he is God's man if he preaches the word, a modern day prophet, if you would...I am also reminded of the passage of scripture that describes the prophet Elijah, who was in a certain town and some of the local boys were taunting him and God sent a bear out of the woods to eat the boys.

My husband and I were at the home of one of our Sunday school students for an Easter sunset service. We were meeting by the lake and a missionary was sharing his testimony. The speaker had a microphone, so the sound was echoing across the lake where three or four little boys were playing. Right in the middle of the missionaries testimony the boys started to yell nasty comments across the lake. "Hey, you preacher man, why don't you just shut up?" and "We don't care what you have to say, just shut up." I was reminded of the little boys that God judged and terrified that a bear might appear any moment. I don't know if when or how, but I do believe that sin (of any kind) has serious consequences. That is however, up to God to judge, not us!

Spies Sent into Canaan (13:1-33)
One man from each tribe was sent out to spy on the land of Canaan. There they saw giants. They reported back to Moses and even though Caleb wanted to go and conquer the land immediately, the others were too afraid of the giants that lived there (they compared themselves to grasshoppers next to the giants).

Israel Refuses to Enter Canaan (14:1-10)
This was the land "flowing with milk and honey" that God had promised them.
Yet they refuse to trust Him to deliver it to them, even though He had promised to do so. Sounds so like us sometimes. (Oh ye of little faith)
Joshua and Caleb tried to convince the people that God was true to his word and that the land would be theirs. But the people wanted to stone them because they were so afraid.

Moses Intercedes for the People (14:11-25)
So, as has become the norm, God came down in the cloud before the people and basically said, "How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?"
In our terms God had had it with these people, He was tired of listening to their moans and complaints, because he had proven himself faithful to his word over and over again and the people still refused to trust him.

Death Sentence on the Rebels (14:26-38)
God spoke to Moses and told him that all those who went to spy on the land and came back causing the people to complain about Moses and fear to possess the land, (who were 20 years old or older) with the exception of Joshua and Caleb would die of a plague sent by God and would never be allowed to enter the land that God was prepared to give them. So, it was done...

A Futile Invasion Attempt (14:39-45)
There was great mourning in the land because of these deaths. But evidently they didn't get it still!!! They decided that it would be best if they now went to conquer the land. But Moses told them how foolish this would be because the Lord would not be with them. They still wanted to go their own way instead of God's way. So they went anyway and were attacked.

There is a lesson here for us. Sin doesn't pay.
One of my former pastors used to say:
Sin will take you further than you want to go,
Keep you longer than you want to stay,
and cost you more than you want to pay.....there's a lot of truth there.
The Bible says that the consequences of sin is death. Romans 6:23a
But it doesn't end there...God loves us, He mad a way "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" Romans 6:23b. What a precious realization for us. We went from the "slaves of sin" to the "slaves of God" Romans 6:20-22
tells us "For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life." There it is, before Christ comes into our lives we are "slaves" to sin. But after salvation through the blood of Christ, we are "slaves" to righteousness. Willing slaves, might I add...praise God for his grace to us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
If you don't know Him personally, get to know Him. He loves you, He died for you and He wants to know you!!